A 53 year old American woman is in recovery and feeling well after receiving a gene-edited pig kidney. Towana Looney is the third kidney recipient of this sort of genetically-edited animal transplant, and is now the longest living person to have undergone the procedure.
Transplantation using organs from non-human species is known as xenotransplantation. Last year Richard Slayman, a 62 year old man with kidney failure, had a successful transplant of a genetically edited pig kidney, but sadly died just seven weeks after surgery. In April 2024 another kidney patient, Lisa Pisano, also received a combined heart pump implementation and pig kidney transplant, but died in July 2024.
Doctors were optimistic as Ms Looney was in better health before surgery than previous patients. She donated a kidney to her mother in 1999, but then developed kidney failure several years later due to complications during a pregnancy. It is very rare for living kidney donors to develop kidney failure.
Ms Looney, who lives in Alabama, began dialysis treatment in December 2016 and joined the US transplant waiting list shortly after. Finding a suitable match proved extremely difficult, however; unusually high levels of harmful antibodies in her blood meant she was at a high risk of her body rejecting a transplant.
She volunteered for the highly experimental surgery after hearing about research into xenotransplantation and underwent surgery on 25 November 2024 at NYU Langone Health, a medical centre in New York.
After 11 days of observation after surgery, Ms Looney was discharged from hospital. Ms Looney called the transplant a “blessing”.
I feel like I’ve been given another chance at life. I cannot wait to be able to travel again and spend more quality time with my family and grandchildren.Towana Looney, the third kidney recipient of this sort of genetically-edited animal transplant
The procedure was led by surgeon Dr Robert Montgomery. He called Ms Looney “a beacon of hope to those struggling with kidney failure”.
Around 70,000 people in the UK are currently being treated for kidney failure.
Xenotransplantation represents an exciting area of medicine, but research is still very limited. Even if transplants like Ms Looney’s prove successful in the long-term, it could be many years before genetically-edited animal transplantation is more widely available.
Fiona Loud of Kidney Care UK co-chairs the stakeholder group of the Organ Utilisation Group (OUG), sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care, which aims improve organ donation in the UK. The OUG has recommended a national oversight system for emerging therapies like xenotransplantation, with particular focus on ethics and safety.
Right now there are over 6,250 people in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant and receiving a kidney transplant from a living or deceased donor remains the best hope for improving their quality of life.
These transplants were performed on a compassionate basis and the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration body) has now granted permission for further transplants as part of a trial which will add to the learning over the next few years.
All photos by Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health.
25 February update: pig kidney recipient returns home after transplant breakthrough
Three months after her breakthrough surgery at NYU Langone Health, Towana Looney is returning home.
Towana Looney with members of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute team who have cared for her since her breakthrough transplant
Towana’s recovery from a long history of kidney failure and dialysis treatment has been nothing short of remarkable. We are committed to giving her the best possible chance at life and providing ongoing care from our world-class team of experts. We’re so pleased to see her go back home to her extended family healthy and ready to take on a whole new phase in her long life ahead.Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, Professor of Surgery, chair of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Department of Surgery and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, who led the procedure
14 April update: gene-edited pig kidney transplant fails after a record 130 days
Last Friday, doctors announced that Towana's pig kidney transplant had failed. The transplant allowed Towana to enjoy 130 days without dialysis before being removed on 4 April, making it the longest-lasting pig organ transplant ever.
According to her hospital, the kidney was working well, but appeared to have been rejected because Towana had to reduce her antirejection medication due to an infection. Dr Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who performed the operation in November, praised Towana's "tremendous courage and sacrifice" and stressed that "the field has learned a great deal from her."
In a statement, Towana said that she had "enjoyed time with friends and family without planning around dialysis treatments … I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney — and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcome kidney disease."
Kidney Care UK will continue to monitor developments in the area of xenotransplantation, but for now a kidney transplant from a living or deceased human donor remains the best hope for improving the quality of life of the over 6,250 people in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant.