Surgeons removed a genetically engineered pig’s kidney from an Alabama woman after she experienced acute organ rejection, NYU Langone Health officials said Friday.
Towana Looney, 53, lived with the kidney for 130 days, which is longer than anyone else has tolerated an organ from a genetically modified animal. She has resumed dialysis, hospital officials said.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, Looney’s surgeon and the director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said that the so-called explant was not a setback for the field of xenotransplantation — the effort to use organs from animals to replace those that have failed in humans.
“This is the longest one of these organs has lasted,” he said in an interview, adding that Looney had other medical conditions that might have complicated her prognosis.
“All this takes time,” he said. “This game is going to be won by incremental improvements, singles and doubles, not trying to swing for the fences and get a home run.”
Further treatment of Looney might have salvaged the organ, but she and her medical team decided against it, Montgomery said.
“No. 1 is safety; we needed to be sure that she was going to be OK,” he said.
Looney, who has returned to her home in Alabama after coming to New York for treatment and was not available for comment, said in a statement that she was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the groundbreaking procedure.
“For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed time with friends and family without planning around dialysis treatments,” Looney said in a statement provided by NYU Langone. “Though the outcome is not what anyone wanted, I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney — and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcome kidney disease,” she said.
New York Times News Service