Scientists in Minnesota are bioengineering pig livers in an effort to ease the national transplant shortage that sees over 100,000 people turned away each year.
By “shampooing” away pig liver cells that make the organ function, scientists at the Minneapolis lab Miromatrix are left with a ghostly white, pliable structure that is ready to be transformed with human liver cells, according to the Associated Press. These cells are taken from human organs that are unable to be transplanted and instead allowed to grow and thrive in the empty vessel, restarting the organ’s functions for human use, the outlet reported.
Pig livers are being bioengineered to act like a human liver, part of a research initiative to ease the nation’s transplant shortage by bioengineering replacement organs. https://t.co/xwVhBDsMNW
— Ian Weissman, DO (@DrIanWeissman) December 29, 2022
“The number of organs we have available are never going to be able to meet the demand. This is our frustration,” Dr. Amit Tevar, a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told the Associated Press.
It’s why scientists have begun to look outside of the box for other options, like bioengineering, to solve the problem — even if it sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, transplant chief at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital Dr. Sander Florman explained to the outlet.
“It’s got to start somewhere,” Florman continued, telling the AP that bioengineering a pig’s liver in this way is more feasible for near future use than directly transplanting an animal organ into a human.
By bioengineering the organ, replacing the animal cells with human ones, Miromatrix is hoping to trick the body into accepting it as human.“We essentially regrow the organ,” Jeff Ross, CEO of Miromatrix, told the AP. “Our bodies won’t see it as a pig organ anymore.” (RELATED: Scientists Create Zombie Pigs In Attempt To Revive Dead Organs)
Miromatrix is hoping to test that theory soon by attempting to filter blood out of a patient who recently experienced liver failure and into the bioengineered liver placed near their hospital bed. If the dialysis-like “liver assist” is successful, researchers will begin to develop plans for a full-on bioengineered organ transplant, the AP reported. If the Food and Drug Administration agrees, that is.
The organization still has questions about the application of the study but already had deemed decellularized pig tissue safe for other uses, like surgical mesh.
If the procedure is approved, researchers are hoping to start focusing on transplanting their first bioengineered organ — a kidney — as a patient could still survive on dialysis if the operation proved to be a failure.
That potential breakthrough has transplant experts like Mount Sinai’s Dr. Ron Shapiro “stunned” at the implications for many of his patients who he knows will likely die before they ever get off the transplant list.
Over 105,000 people in the U.S. alone are on an organ transplant waiting list, many of whom die before they even get selected, the AP reported. Last year a Maryland man was the recipient of the first pig heart transplant, and while his body didn’t initially reject the animal organ, he only lived another two months after the operation.