- By Ajeet Kumar
- Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:04 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
An US woman who lived with a pig kidney for a record 130 days had the organ removed after her body began rejecting it and is back on dialysis, doctors announced Friday- news agency AP reported citing the hospital. The latest medical development came as a disappointment in the ongoing quest for animal-to-human transplants.
Towana Looney is recovering well from the April 4 removal surgery at NYU Langone Health and has returned home to Gadsden, Alabama. In a statement, she thanked her doctors for “the opportunity to be part of this incredible research.”
"Grateful to be alive"
“I feel blessed,” said the 53-year-old grandmother. “I’m so grateful to be alive and thankful to have received this incredible gift. It couldn’t have happened without God and the amazing team of doctors, nurses, and researchers who have been by my side.”
During the November 25, 2024, transplant surgery at NYU Langone’s Kimmel Pavilion, Looney received a kidney from a 10-gene-edited pig, becoming only the third person in the world to receive a pig kidney. She has since been under the close care and observation of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute team while living in an apartment in Manhattan. She returned south on February 25. But in April this year, she developed medical complications, leading the doctors to remove the animal kidney from the Alabama woman.
What led doctors to remove pig kidney?
"Towana Looney’s genetically engineered pig kidney functioned well for over four months, and she was able to enjoy life without dialysis for the first time in nine years. In early April, she had a reduction in renal function due to acute rejection. What triggered the rejection episode after a long period of stability is being actively investigated, but it followed a lowering of her immunosuppression regimen to treat an infection unrelated to the pig kidney," said Robert Montgomery, Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
The doctor said that the decision was made by Ms. Looney and her doctors that the safest intervention would be to remove the kidney and return to dialysis rather than giving additional immunosuppression. This preserves future possibilities for transplantation for her as knowledge and innovations progress. Her kidney was removed on Friday, April 4—130 days since it was transplanted on November 25, 2024. She recovered rapidly and was discharged on the fifth postoperative day and is back home in Alabama, doing well.
Xenotransplantation
Looney’s surgery was the latest in a series of similar procedures known as xenotransplantation, which is the practice of transplanting organs between species. Prior to the xenotransplant, her medical condition was worsening due to eight years of dialysis treatment for end-stage kidney failure. After donating a kidney to her mother earlier in life, a complication during pregnancy led to kidney failure and unusually high levels of harmful antibodies that prevented her from receiving a human transplant.
Looney’s new kidney, called a UKidney, was from a pig with 10 gene edits developed by Revivicor Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation. The gene edits help make the kidney more compatible with the human recipient and reduce the likelihood of rejection. The gene edits, pig breeding, and production of the investigational UKidney used in this procedure were performed by United Therapeutics and Revivicor. No other unapproved devices or medications were used in Looney’s surgery and postsurgical care.
