Organ transplantation

In a brief but pivotal study, pig kidneys were transplanted into two brain-dead humans for 54 hours, where they functioned well and avoided rejection.

Reflecting on the first genetically engineered pig-to-human heart transplantation in this Clinical Outlook article, we discuss the likely future of cardiac xenotransplantation. Initial clinical trials are expected to explore compassionate use as destination therapy in carefully selected adult patients and as a bridge to heart allotransplantation in infant patients with complex congenital heart disease.

Kidney transplant recipients receive therapeutic immunosuppression that impairs their immune responses to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. For this reason, this vulnerable patient population is insufficiently protected by the standard two-dose COVID-19 vaccination programme and requires a specific follow-up to guide personalization of an intensified vaccination approach.