Recently, doctors at the University of Maryland accomplished a first in medical science: they transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig into a human. As of 3 days after the surgery, the human was still alive. It will be a while before we can call it a success, but this has been called a watershed moment, as it takes humanity one step closer to using animal organs to save human lives. Such ‘Xenotransplantations’ are crucial for saving human lives, as there are more and more demands for organ transplants and not enough organs going around. So, finding methods to transplant other species’ organs into humans (thus the term Xenotransplantation) is a natural path before humanity develops the technology to make artificial organs (example Carmat developing an artificial heart). But why a pig, and why a genetically modified one?
I don’t know why a pig, but I know that pig heart valves are common in biological valve replacements in humans. It must have something to do with the size match between a pig and a human, and the ease of having ‘pig farms.’
The genetically modified is hoped to solve a major compatibility issue: human immune system rejects foreign things, which include other humans’ or animals’ organs. Even the human-human transplant is supported by significant use of anti-rejection medications and chemical treatments. In this case, the doctors made 10 gene edits in the pig which then was bred for this purpose: they inactivated genes that are expected to cause the rejection in humans, inactivated the genes to stop the heart from growing bigger, and added human genes to make it more compatible with the human system. Pretty impressive!
The other day, as I was thinking about this achievement, I wondered what would Judaism and Islam say about this? Is it kosher, or should medicine look into other animals? And what would vegans think? Will they bypass animal organs and wait for the artificial ones to develop? In any case, as all these technologies, including artificial hearts, develop there will be new fashion terms, such as having a heart of gold, heart of steel, or heart of a pig!
And last but not the least question: What will happen to the rest of the pig? Will genetically modified organ donor pig-based ham, sausage, ribs and cutlets become our future delicatessen? Or will the pig’s remains be packaged and given to the organ recipient(s)?
Paris, January 24, 2022
Zeejay