On the 19th, China's Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Hubei announced that pig kidneys, which have undergone gene editing, have successfully survived in rhesus monkeys for over one year, and the monkeys are currently still in good health. This marks the world's first case—outside of the United States—of a primate surviving for a year after a xenotransplantation, signifying that China has now advanced into the ranks of international leaders in this field.
According to China’s “Jimu News,” expert Chen Gang from the hospital’s Institute of Organ Transplantation said: “Every time we see end-stage kidney disease patients suffer while waiting, we feel very sad.” Currently, only 10% of the global demand for organ transplants can be met each year, so xenotransplantation has become a beacon of hope for breaking through this limitation.
Since 1999, Chen Gang’s team was the first in China to conduct related experiments and once managed to keep a pig kidney surviving for 13 days in a rhesus monkey. As gene editing technology matured, they removed the pig genes that trigger rejection, performed C-section on pregnant sows, and delivered piglets through a sterile transfer window into an isolation room, where they were raised entirely by hand. The survival period for the rhesus monkeys receiving pig kidneys has now successfully surpassed one year. Chen Gang expects that within three to five years, clinical trial patients will be able to use pig organs.