Pig organ transplant recipient remains healthy, sets xenotransplant record

Editor’s Note

Towana Looney, a 53-year-old Alabama woman, has become the longest-living recipient of a pig organ transplant, thriving 61 days after receiving a gene-edited pig kidney. The Associated Press (AP) reported the news January 25.

As detailed in the article, her recovery offers critical insights into the development of xenotransplantation as a potential means of addressing to the severe organ shortage in the US, where over 100,000 patients await transplants.

Looney’s transplant, conducted at NYU Langone Health, is part of a small group of experimental “compassionate use” cases authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients with no other options, AP reports. Unlike previous recipients of pig organs, who lived less than two months, Looney’s kidney is functioning “absolutely normally,” according to lead surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery.

Looney’s complex medical history makes her case unique, AP reports. After donating a kidney to her mother in 1999, complications later damaged her remaining kidney, leaving her on dialysis for eight years. High antibody levels in her immune system made finding a human kidney impossible, pushing her to pursue this experimental transplant.

Key lessons from Looney’s progress include recognizing early signs of organ rejection, which her medical team successfully treated using knowledge gained from prior research. Scientists hope her case will inform upcoming formal trials of pig organ transplants, which United Therapeutics has proposed to the FDA.