Transplanted Pig Kidney Still Working After a Record-Setting 9 Months in a Patient
Transplanted Pig Kidney Still Working After a Record-Setting 9 Months in a Patient
移植猪肾在患者体内成功运作超过9个月，创下历史新纪录
A woman has lived with a pig kidney for more than nine months without needing dialysis, a record-setting achievement. 一位女性在移植猪肾后，无需透析已存活超过九个月，创下了历史新纪录。
The woman underwent the operation at Massachusetts General Hospital on November 22 last year. As of Thursday, the kidney has been functioning for 285 days, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based eGenesis, the biotech company that used Crispr gene editing to make the organ fit for human transplantation. Previously, the record for a person living with a transplanted pig kidney was 271 days, set by Tim Andrews. 这位女性于去年11月22日在马萨诸塞州总医院接受了手术。据总部位于马萨诸塞州剑桥市的生物技术公司 eGenesis 称，截至周四，该肾脏已正常运作285天。该公司利用 Crispr 基因编辑技术使猪肾能够适用于人体移植。此前，猪肾移植患者的存活纪录为271天，由蒂姆·安德鲁斯（Tim Andrews）创下。
Most people in need of a kidney transplant wait three to five years on average to receive one, though it can take longer depending on blood type and other factors. While they wait, patients often need dialysis, in which a person’s blood vessels are hooked up to a machine that removes excess fluid and waste from the bloodstream. Dialysis typically requires four-hour sessions three times a week and can damage blood vessels over time, making the procedure hard on the body. 大多数需要肾移植的患者平均需要等待三到五年才能获得肾源，具体时间取决于血型和其他因素。在等待期间，患者通常需要进行透析，即将血管连接到机器上，以清除血液中多余的液体和废物。透析通常每周需要进行三次，每次四小时，长期下来会损伤血管，对身体造成沉重负担。
Pig kidneys could offer an alternative until a human organ is available. Pig organs are similar in size and function to human organs and are being investigated as a way to ease the shortage of human donor organs. To make them more suitable for humans, scientists are genetically editing them to prevent immediate rejection and reduce the risk of pig viruses being passed on to transplant patients. 在人类器官可用之前，猪肾可能提供一种替代方案。猪的器官在大小和功能上与人类器官相似，目前正被研究作为缓解人类捐赠器官短缺的一种途径。为了使其更适合人类，科学家们正在对其进行基因编辑，以防止急性排斥反应，并降低猪病毒传播给移植患者的风险。
Patients’ health gets worse the longer they’re on dialysis, “and their odds of getting a human transplant aren’t rising fast enough to meet their declining health,” says Mike Curtis, CEO of eGenesis. The company used Crispr to remove certain pig genes that could cause an immune response and add a handful of human genes. eGenesis 首席执行官迈克·柯蒂斯（Mike Curtis）表示，患者进行透析的时间越长，健康状况就越差，“而他们获得人类器官移植的机会增长速度，赶不上他们健康状况恶化的速度。”该公司利用 Crispr 技术去除了可能引起免疫反应的特定猪基因，并添加了少量人类基因。
“What we saw with Mr. Andrews was a radical improvement in his overall health while he was on the pig kidney versus if he had stayed on chronic dialysis,” Curtis says. 柯蒂斯说：“我们在安德鲁斯先生身上看到，与长期进行透析相比，他在使用猪肾期间的整体健康状况有了根本性的改善。”
The woman who has crossed the nine-month mark is the fifth person to receive an eGenesis kidney through a special regulatory pathway known as expanded access. The Food and Drug Administration allows patients with serious or life-threatening conditions to gain access to experimental treatments when there are no good alternatives. 这位跨越九个月大关的女性是第五位通过名为“扩大使用”（expanded access）的特殊监管途径接受 eGenesis 肾脏移植的患者。美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）允许患有严重或危及生命疾病的患者在没有其他良好替代方案时，获得实验性治疗的机会。
Andrews’ case shows that pig kidneys may provide a temporary solution. He received a pig kidney in January 2025 and had it removed in October last year after a period of decreasing kidney function. He returned to dialysis but received a human kidney transplant in January this year. A second person has also successfully received a human transplant after having a pig kidney for eight months, according to eGenesis. 安德鲁斯的案例表明，猪肾可能提供一种临时解决方案。他在2025年1月接受了猪肾移植，但在肾功能下降一段时间后，于去年10月将其移除。他重新回到了透析状态，但在今年1月接受了人类肾脏移植。据 eGenesis 称，另一位患者在携带猪肾八个月后，也成功接受了人类肾脏移植。
Curtis says the company is learning more with each transplant. In a paper published on Thursday in The Lancet medical journal, the surgical team that performed the transplants details Andrews’ experience. They determined that Andrews’ pig kidney eventually failed due to thrombotic microangiopathy, which means tiny blood clots formed in the transplanted organ. 柯蒂斯表示，公司通过每一次移植都在学习更多知识。在周四发表于《柳叶刀》医学期刊的一篇论文中，执行移植手术的外科团队详细介绍了安德鲁斯的经历。他们确定安德鲁斯的猪肾最终因血栓性微血管病而衰竭，这意味着移植器官内形成了微小的血栓。
The team is using that information to adjust the immunosuppressant medications that pig kidney recipients receive and how frequently they need to take those drugs. People who receive human organ transplants also need to take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent their body from rejecting the transplanted organ. Organ rejection can happen at any time following a transplant, ranging from minutes after the surgery to many years later. 该团队正在利用这些信息调整猪肾接受者所使用的免疫抑制药物，以及服药的频率。接受人类器官移植的人也需要服用免疫抑制药物，以防止身体排斥移植器官。器官排斥可能在移植后的任何时间发生，从手术后几分钟到多年后不等。
Kidneys are the most-needed organ, with more than 95,000 people waiting to receive one in the US. But due to a shortage of donor organs, fewer than 28,000 kidney transplants were performed in the US in 2025. 肾脏是需求量最大的器官，美国有超过95,000人正在等待肾移植。但由于捐赠器官短缺，2025年美国进行的肾移植手术不到28,000例。
The FDA has given eGenesis the green light to conduct a more formal trial in up to 33 patients with kidney failure who are between 50 and 70 years old and on the wait list for a human kidney. That trial will not happen until 2027, but eGenesis plans to perform additional transplants under the expanded access pathway in the meantime. Their next goal is to get a transplanted pig kidney to function for a year. FDA 已批准 eGenesis 对最多33名年龄在50至70岁之间、正在等待人类肾脏移植的肾衰竭患者进行更正式的临床试验。该试验要到2027年才会进行，但在此期间，eGenesis 计划通过“扩大使用”途径进行更多的移植手术。他们的下一个目标是让移植的猪肾能够运作满一年。