Surgeons perform first xenotransplant using CRISPR’d pig kidney

In a new test of xenotransplantation, a medical team at Massachusetts General Hospital announced Thursday that, for the first time, it had transplanted a kidney from a CRISPR gene-edited pig into a living patient.

Surgeons performed the milestone procedure over four hours on Saturday, March 16, without complications. The organ recipient, a 62-year-old man named Richard Slayman, had previously received a human kidney transplant, but it failed after about five years, requiring him to resume kidney dialysis in 2023.

As of Thursday morning, Slayman, a manager with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, was up and walking — he’s up to 20 laps a day around the ward — one of his physicians told STAT. His kidneys are performing well enough that he hasn’t received dialysis since the surgery, said Leonardo Riella, MGH’s medical director for kidney transplants. He is expected to be discharged soon.