To avoid these rejection phenomena, the pig’s genes were modified. “Our immune system is so highly developed that it would completely reject an animal’s organ within minutes to hours,” says professor Ina Jochmans, transplant surgeon at UZ Leuven. “But this kidney would have been functioning for a little over 2 days, and that’s quite an important milestone.”
The kidney was attached to the patient’s blood vessels and kept outside her body so the researchers could see what was happening to it.
–
