On 25 January 2025, Tim Andrews, aged 66, underwent a xenotransplant at Massachusetts General Brigham in Boston, receiving a kidney harvested from a Yucatan miniature pig that had been edited with 69 genomic modifications to make its tissues more compatible with humans.
The procedure came against a backdrop of severe organ shortages – roughly 100,000 people in the United States await a kidney while only about 25,000 transplants are performed each year, and more than 7,000 patients are on the waiting list in the United Kingdom.
Researchers see xenotransplantation as a possible bridge for patients who might otherwise spend years on dialysis.
The donor pig was engineered to remove key pig‑specific antigens, insert human genes that act as camouflage for the immune system, and deactivate endogenous viruses.
These changes aim to prevent the rapid immune attack that would normally destroy a foreign organ within minutes.
Andrews’ pig kidney began filtering blood immediately and functioned for 271 days – the longest period recorded for a xenotransplanted organ. He described the operation as a “light at the end of the tunnel” and said it gave him hope of escaping dialysis.
Around six months after the surgery, the kidney showed signs of vascular damage and inflammation; despite medication adjustments, the organ failed and was removed in October 2025.
Andrews returned to dialysis for 82 days before receiving a human donor kidney in January 2026, which has been functioning well.
Dr Leonardo Riella of the Centre for Transplantation Sciences at Mass General Brigham warned that the shortage of donor kidneys places the field in a crisis, but he also highlighted the potential of xenotransplantation to offer an alternative for patients without living donors.
The team’s report in The Lancet noted that the case demonstrates both the promise of clinical kidney xenotransplantation and the remaining scientific and clinical challenges.
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Category: Health
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