By Whitley Daniels, JHBL Staff Member
The medical world is always evolving to fit the needs of patients across the globe. Though animals can be kept as pets or raised for human consumption, medical doctors are utilizing animals to provide healthy organs and tissues to patients that are facing life-threatening diseases. About a dozen people on organ waiting lists die each day because of the acute shortage of organs.[1] Research on gene editing and clone technologies has led to the utilization of animal organs and tissues in kidney replacements and heart surgeries.[2] These types of procedures may usher in a new era of medicine where replacement organs are no longer in short supply for the half of a million patients that need healthy organs and tissues per year.[3]
Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of organs from one species to another, where live cells, tissues, or organs from an animal source are transferred into a human recipient.[4] The animal tissue is genetically modified with human gene insertions to trick the human immune system into recognizing the foreign transplant as its own.[5] Xenotransplantation is not a recent phenomenon, as medical doctors have made sporadic attempts at cross-species transplants since the 17th century.[6]
In the 17th century, medical doctors experimented with animal-human blood transfusions to improve health of human patients.[7] Then, 200 years later, doctors began to transplant skin from animals to cover ulcers and burns on humans.[8] Research and experimentation continued into the 20th century as a Tulane University surgeon, Keith Reemstma, transplanted chimpanzee kidneys into six patients experiencing kidney failure, one of which survived for nine months with no signs of rejection.[9]
Despite the short success of previous experiments and public scrutiny, scientists have recently moved from primates to experimenting with pig genes to bridge the species gap.[10] Pigs offer more advantages and fewer ethical concerns because they are used for livestock, have large litters, a short gestation period, and organs more similar to humans.[11] Furthermore, modern technologies such as gene editing and cloning techniques have shown that genetically altered pig organs are less likely to be rejected in humans.[12]
Dr. Bartley Griffith, the Director of the Cardiac Transplant Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center, along with other surgeons performed the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human recipient.[13] The 8-hour operation was performed in January, 2022 on a 57-year-old man, David Bennett Sr., who suffered with a life-threatening heart disease.[14] Bennett Sr. risked undergoing the experimental treatment because he was too sick to qualify for a human donor heart, and, without a new heart, he would die.[15] During the first 48 hours, Bennett Sr. was closely monitored by doctors and showed no signs of rejecting the heart.[16] After a long two months, Bennett passed away, but he lived longer with an animal heart than any human before.[17]
Additionally, cows have been used to help cardiac ill patients. In Guyana, Caribbean Heart Institute’s Chief Executive Officer and Cardiac Thoracic Surgeon, Dr. Gary Stephens, successfully conducted an open-heart surgery using cow tissue.[18] This type of surgery is the first of its kind in Guyana.[19] Dr. Stephens performed the life-saving surgery on a 24-year-old man, Dexter George, who suffered from a severe cardiac condition that resulted in a massive cardiac tumor.[20] The tumor blocked 90 % of the right atrium and compromised the function of George’s heart, preventing him from performing day-to-day activities.[21] The tissue, which was derived from a cow’s heart, was used to reconstruct George’s damaged right atrium of his heart.[22] Despite a less than one percent chance of survival, George has exhibited remarkable improvement since the surgery in June, 2023.[23] George’s successful surgery exhibits to the world that scientists and medical doctors are pushing beyond traditional boundaries. The success also displays the resilience of the heart.
Though this field of medicine must overcome many hurdles, such as immune response and rejection, these hurdles do outweigh the possibilities and opportunities that the performance of xenotransplantation can bring to the world of medicine. Through xenotransplantation, patients have overcome life-threatening diseases and, thus, have enjoyed a sense of relief and an extended life. Xenotransplantation has the potential to treat organ failure and cardiac troubles in patients and could open the doors to treat and screen other types of diseases. Xenotransplantation procedures can supplement the acute organ supply shortage that millions of patients face daily. Furthermore, while brilliant surgeons pioneering this practice deserve credit, so do the brave patients willing to take a monumental risk to gain an extended life and open the door for other patients to receive lifesaving treatment.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.
Whitley Daniels is a second-year law student, who is interested in Corporate Litigation law. She has her Bachelor’s degree in Administration of Justice with a minor in Sociology and her Master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Inspection and Oversight. Before attending law school, she worked at the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s office as a Senior Trial Preparation Assistant.
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[1] Roni C. Rabin, In a First, Man Receives a Heart From A Genetically Altered Pig, N.Y. Times (Jan. 10, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/health/heart-transplant-pig-bennett.html (last-visited Oct. 14, 2023).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Pooja T. Paharia, The successful transplantation of genetically engineered pig hearts into recently deceased humans, News Med. Life Sci. (Jul. 14, 2022), https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220714/The-successful-transplantation-of-genetically-engineered-pig-hearts-into-recently-deceased-humans.aspx [https://perma.cc/B4CA-2GAH].
[5] Id.
[6] A history of xenotransplantation experiments, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/organfarm/etc/cron.html [https://perma.cc/7NGX-2ZST] (last-visited Oct. 12, 2023).
[7] Yasmin Tayag, A Brief History of Putting Animal Parts in People, SLATE MAG. (Feb. 14, 2022, 9:00 AM), https://slate.com/technology/2022/02/xenotransplantation-pig-organs-history.html [https://perma.cc/X9LS-ER8F].
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] In a major scientific advance, a pig kidney is successfully transplanted into a human, NPR (Oct. 20, 2021 7:34 AM), https://www.npr.org/2021/10/20/1047560631/in-a-major-scientific-advance-a-pig-kidney-is-successfully-transplanted-into-a-h [https://perma.cc/9VP5-TAMA] (describing scientist expanding their experimentation to animals that would better benefit humans).
[11] Id.
[12] See Rabin, supra note 1 (describing technology being used to test different animal organs before transplantation into human recipient).
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] See Rabin, supra note 1.
[17] Patrick Boyle, How pig organs made their way into humans: The slow advance to transplant kidneys and hearts, AAMC (Feb. 23, 2022), https://www.aamc.org/news/how-pig-organs-made-their-way-humans-slow-advance-transplant-kidneys-and-hearts#:~:text=Then%20from%20the%201960s%20through,%2C%20MBBS%2C%20PhD%2C%20a%20transplant [https://perma.cc/J7FT-QJF8].
[18] Surgeon uses cow tissue to reconstruct man’s heart, Kaieteur News (Jul. 12, 2023) https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2023/07/12/surgeon-uses-cow-tissue-to-reconstruct-mans-heart/ [https://perma.cc/K7TT-MJAJ].
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] Surgeon uses cow tissue to reconstruct man’s heart, supra note 19.
[23] Id.