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Why a recent pig kidney transplant is a major breakthrough

Why a recent pig kidney transplant is a major breakthrough

Last month, Towana Looney, 53, of Gadsden, Alabama, became the third patient to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig. This advancement in the field of xenotransplantation, or animal-to-human transplants, is important – and we hope that it will not only change Looney’s life, but that she can learn a lot about how to transmit these organs to more people.

Looney had few options. She had donated a kidney to her mother in 1999, but years later suffered from a dangerous form of high blood pressure during pregnancy that eventually led to kidney failure. Yet that experience and the associated blood transfusions also left him with a host of antibodies that made finding a suitable kidney donor nearly impossible. She has been on dialysis for eight long years.