The first human to receive a replacement kidney from a genetically modified pig is a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal illness, according to recent announcements from specialists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

According to a statement from the hospital, the four-hour procedure on March 16 “marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients.”

According to the hospital, Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is making a full recovery and should be released shortly.

Long-term outcomes of the innovative animal-to-human transplant are of great interest to experts, according to Dr. Jim Kim, director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at USC Transplant Institute in Los Angeles.

After seven years on dialysis, Slayman underwent a human kidney transplant at the same hospital in 2018. However, the organ failed after five years, so he had to start receiving dialysis again.

The kidney came from a pig that had undergone genetic editing to delete genes that would be dangerous for a human recipient and add some human genes to increase compatibility. The donor was eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additionally, the business deactivated pig-born pathogens that may infect people.

Researchers announced opens new tab in October in the journal Nature that kidneys from genetically modified pigs produced by eGenesis had been successfully transplanted into monkeys that were kept alive for an average of 176 days, and in one case for more than two years.

(Adapted from SmithSonianMag.com)