(MENAFN) Scientists achieved a breakthrough milestone by sustaining a genetically engineered pig kidney inside a brain-dead patient for 61 days while successfully combating two separate rejection crises, groundbreaking research published Thursday in Nature reveals.

The landmark study provides crucial insights into blocking immune system attacks during cross-species organ transplants and procedures involving human donors alike.

A 57-year-old male patient maintained on life support became the recipient of both the porcine kidney and the donor animal's thymus gland—a critical organ responsible for immune system regulation.

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health conducted the experimental procedure last year, establishing a new record for the longest functional period of any pig organ transplanted into a human recipient.

The transplanted kidney demonstrated immediate post-surgical functionality but experienced failure on day 33. Medical teams successfully restored organ performance through a therapeutic combination of plasma exchange treatments, corticosteroids, and complement-inhibiting medication. When a subsequent T-cell-mediated rejection occurred, physicians reversed the crisis using immunosuppressive drugs.

Approximately a dozen patients have undergone gene-modified pig organ transplants in recent years, though the majority ended in failure due to rapid immune rejection of the foreign tissue by human defense systems.

According to researchers, identifying the precise immune cells triggering rejection responses and developing methods to neutralize them represents a pivotal advancement toward establishing xenotransplantation—animal-to-human organ transfer—as a clinically viable solution.

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