‘It’s a blessing’: US woman receives gene-edited pig kidney

WASHINGTON: Towana Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999 only for the remaining one to fail several years later as a result of pregnancy complications.

The 53-year-old from Alabama has now become the latest recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney -- and is currently the only living person with an animal organ transaxplant -- a New York hospital announced on Tuesday.

“It´s a blessing,” she said in a press statement, published three weeks after the procedure at NYU Langone.

The field of xenotransplantation, long an elusive goal for science, is seeing renewed momentum as advancements in gene editing and managing the immune system bring the once-distant prospect closer to reality.

Advocates hope it can help address the organ shortage crisis, with more than 100,000 Americans waiting for an organ, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys.

Looney had been living with dialysis since December 2016 -- eight long years -- after high blood pressure from a pregnancy condition damaged her remaining kidney.

Although living donors receive higher priority on waiting lists, finding a suitable match aproved impossible due to her unusually high levels of harmful antibodies, which made rejection highly likely.