Whats the nearest weve got to using transgenic pig organs for human transplants?
Livers from transgenic pigs were used to keep two patients alive in the USA while doctors searched desperately for human organs for them. But that was before scientists discovered that PERVs could infect humans. The two patients – one of them Robert Pennington – were connected to transgenic pig livers on trolleys at their bedside. The pig livers took over the work of their own failed livers, cleaning their blood and keeping them alive. Both procedures were successful and the two patients are alive and well after human livers were found for them and transplanted.
