For the first time in the world, a Chinese team successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig lung into a human body.

The world's first! Chinese scientists successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig lung into a human body.

A research team led by He Jianxing, a professor at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, transplanted the left lung of a gene-edited Bama Xiang pig into a brain-dead person. After the surgery, the transplanted lung maintained ventilation and gas exchange functions for up to 9 days.

The paper was published in the British academic journal Nature Medicine on August 25.

International experts highly appraised the research results, considering it "a milestone" in the relevant research field.

This achievement highlights the potential of pig organs made more compatible with humans through gene editing, which is expected to help alleviate the problem of shortage of lung transplant donors.

Gene-edited pig lung transplantation

The research team pointed out that although the patient did show an immune response and some organ damage, the patient did not immediately and strongly reject the gene-edited pig lung.

This research marks another key milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is the practice of exchanging organs between different species.

Currently, the global demand for organ transplantation is increasing. Xenotransplantation is considered a potential solution to the shortage of donors.

Relevant reports show that in the past 30 years, pig heart valves have been widely used in human transplantation surgeries, while organ transplantation is more complex. Doctors have achieved limited success in gene-edited pig heart and pig kidney transplantation. In addition, the medical community has also tried gene-edited pig liver transplantation, but so far, the results have not been significant.

Beatriz Domínguez-Hill, the director of the Spanish National Transplant Organization, said, "Previous xenotransplantation experiments were limited to the kidneys, heart, and liver. Compared with them, xenogeneic lung transplantation faces greater challenges."

Because the physiological balance of the lungs is delicate, it receives a large amount of blood flow and is continuously exposed to the outside air, so it is particularly vulnerable to damage.

The lungs play a key role in blood filtration, body temperature regulation, platelet production, pH balance, and immune defense, and have metabolic and endocrine functions. Different from the kidneys or heart, the lungs come into contact with external factors such as viruses and bacteria when inhaling air.

For the above reasons, even lung transplantation between humans is known to be difficult.

The team from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig lung into a human, which is considered by experts as a small step forward in the long and difficult field of xenotransplantation. The recipient was a 39-year-old brain-dead man, and the transplanted organ survived for 9 days.

At the end of the 9th day, the pig lung was removed for analysis, and the man was withdrawn from life support at the request of his family.

The research team said that in the future, they will further optimize the gene editing strategy and anti-rejection treatment plan, extend the survival and function maintenance time of the transplanted organ, and apply the tubeless technology independently developed by the team to the xenogeneic lung transplantation experiment to reduce the damage of mechanical ventilation to the donor lung and promote the transformation of xenogeneic lung transplantation into clinical application.

Organ function maintained for 9 days

The donor pig lung contained six CRISPR gene edits - three genes encoding sugars that trigger the immune system (these sugars are present on the surface of pig cells) were silenced, and three human protein genes that regulate inflammation and other immune responses were added to reduce the immune risk after its organ transplantation into the human body.

The patient also received a variety of drugs to reduce the risk of infection and rejection.

The research team replaced the patient's left lung with the donor pig lung. This lung functioned in the new environment, delivering oxygen to the man's blood and removing carbon dioxide.

Through multiple gene edits, the transplanted lung successfully avoided the hyperacute rejection reaction common in xenotransplantation - this immediate immune response against foreign organs can lead to the necrosis of the blood vessels supplying the organ and organ failure. Even organ transplantation between humans often fails within a few hours due to this.

However, 24 hours after the transplantation, the researchers observed that the patient's body began to produce pro-inflammatory molecules, and white blood cells began to infiltrate the pig lung.

Through chest scans, it was observed that the new organ was filled with fluid - a sign of tissue damage, possibly caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury.

On the 3rd and 6th days after the surgery, antibody-mediated rejection seemed to cause damage to the transplanted organ.

The above picture shows the transplanted pig lung and its condition four days later.

On the 9th day, the experiment was terminated at the request of the subject's family.

Records show that during the 216-hour monitoring period, the transplanted organ remained viable and functional, with no hyperacute rejection reaction occurring during the period, and no signs of active infection were found in the synchronous etiological monitoring.

The immunosuppressive treatment included rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin, basiliximab, rituximab, eculizumab, tofacitinib, tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and gradually reduced glucocorticoids, and was adjusted accordingly based on the assessment of the immune status after the surgery.

Further research is needed

Xenotransplantation, which involves transplanting animal organs into humans, is a cutting-edge field in global medical research today.

This work was described by Richard Pierson III, a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the United States and the world), as "the first time to observe the process of pig lung transplantation into a human, which is exciting." He has conducted dozens of experiments on transplanting pig lungs into baboons to test the strategy of xenogeneic lung transplantation.

Pierson mentioned that in his team's experiments, chimpanzees with pig lungs implanted in their bodies could survive for up to 34 days.

In terms of ethics and safety, the research plan of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University strictly followed relevant national laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines, and was reviewed and supervised by institutions such as the hospital's ethics committee.

The subject had severe traumatic brain injury and was confirmed to be brain-dead after four independent assessments. His family, out of the desire to support medical progress, agreed to participate in the research free of charge.

Justin Qian, a heart and lung transplant expert at the NYU Langone Health Center who performs heart and lung transplants, said that using brain-dead patients to test these organs is a crucial step in the ethics and safety of this high-risk research.

He described this new work as "the foundation necessary for the gradual progress in this field."

In addition, in order to extend the experiment time and obtain more information about immune rejection and other issues, the researchers only transplanted one pig lung, leaving the patient's other lung to help with breathing; while patients receiving human lung transplants usually need both lungs to be replaced.

The researchers said, "Although this research has proven the feasibility of pig lung transplantation into humans, there are still many challenges related to organ rejection and infection. Further preclinical research is still needed before translating this procedure into clinical application."

Reference links

[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03861-x

[2]https://www.news.cn/tech/20250825/09b7951fd9a04e2db5234eddf23fbb0e/c.html

[3]https://www.science.org/content/article/first-pig-lung-survives-and-functions-briefly-person

[4]https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/25/first-lung-xenotransplant-gene-edited-pig/

[5]https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/first-pig-to-human-lung-transplant-china

This article is from the WeChat public account "QbitAI". Author: Buyuan. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.