WIKIMEDIA COMMONS | Doctors transplanted a lung from a genetically modified pig into a human for the first time in Guangzhou, China, May 2025.
Doctors in Guangzhou, China, transplanted a lung from a genetically modified pig into a human for the first time Aug. 25, highlighting the potential of xenotransplantation to transform medical care.
The organ survived for nine days inside a 39-year-old man in China who was brain dead at the time of surgery. The procedure was performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University.
The first successful human kidney transplant was performed in 1954, followed by the first heart transplant in 1967. Since then, transplants have expanded to include livers, lungs, pancreases and even combined organ transplants, becoming a routine and life-saving operation. This achievement, reported in Nature Medicine this week, represents progress toward more accessible transplant procedures.
Abigail Marsh, a professor in the department of psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown, said the breakthrough is essential in solving the core issue with transplant surgeries today.
“There are over 100,000 people on the waiting list for organs in the United States today, many of whom will die before a donor organ can be found. There have never been enough human donors to fill the gap. This advance may someday help solve a problem that we haven’t so far been able to solve any other way,” Marsh told the Hoya.
Xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs in humans, has long been proposed as a solution to donor organ shortages, but early attempts failed due to the human body rejecting the foreign organs. Recent advances in genome editing have made it possible to design pigs whose organs are far more compatible with the human body by removing the genes that most likely provoke adverse immune reactions, replacing them with human genes that help the organ blend in with its new host.
Hearts, kidneys and even livers have been tested in experimental xenotransplants, but lungs, with their extensive vascular networks, have, until now, been the most elusive target.
Christopher Hwang (CAS ’28), a pre-medical student at Georgetown, said he was shocked to see how far xenotransplantation has come.
“I remember reading years ago about how pigs have the most similar blood structure to humans, and how pig blood could potentially be used as artificial blood. It’s truly incredible to see that in just a couple years, such similarities between pigs and humans have translated into a whole lung transplantation,” Hwang told The Hoya.
The transplanted left lung came from a pig with six genomic edits developed by Chengdu ClonOrgan Biotechnology. Three genes were removed from the lung to reduce the risk of an immune response after transplantation and three human genes were added to protect the organ against clotting and inflammatory attack.
Sophia Kojo (SON ’28), a Georgetown nursing student, said she is excited about this new research in genome editing and transplantation.
“I hope we continue to research and explore genetic modification as a means of making xenotransplantation safer and more reliable,” Kojo told the Hoya.
The surgeons reported no immediate signs of graft failure, which occurs when the transplanted organ fails to make new, healthy cells or function properly in the body. Although some injury was observed by day three, the tissue showed signs of recovery by day nine. The study was then ended at the request of the recipient’s family, but it was a promising proof of concept for long-term xenotransplantation.
The study’s authors acknowledged that better preservation methods and additional genetic modifications will be needed to achieve longer survival in the future. Despite this, the nine-day viability of a pig lung inside a human marks a major step toward expanding the supply of donor organs.
Kojo reflected on the significance of the breakthrough for the future of medical care, saying it represents positive progress.
“It makes me so happy to know that we are one step closer to saving those who have been waiting for the resources they need and deserve,” Kojo said. “Imagine the relief knowing that you’re finally getting that life-changing procedure — that you’re being given a second chance at life.”