Tovana Looney donated one kidney to her mother in 1999, but the remaining kidney failed several years later due to pregnancy complications. Now, a 53-year-old Alabama man has become the latest recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney — and is currently the only living person in the world to have an animal organ transplant, New York’s NYU Langone Hospital announced Tuesday.
“I’m so happy, I’m so blessed to have this gift, to have this second chance at life,” Looney said during a news conference held three weeks after the procedure.
Xenotransplantation, transplanting organs from one species to another, has long been an attractive but elusive scientific goal. Initial experiments on primates failed, but recent advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the dream closer to reality.
Pigs have emerged as ideal donors: they grow fast, produce larger litters and are already part of the human food supply.
Advocates hope this approach could help alleviate the severe organ shortage in the United States, where more than 100,000 people are waiting for a transplant, including more than 90,000 who need a kidney.
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last chance
Looney had been living on dialysis since December 2016 – eight painful years. High blood pressure due to preeclampsia took its toll, leaving her with chronic kidney disease.
Despite gaining priority on the transplant waiting list as a living donor, her search for a compatible kidney had a disappointing end. Her unusually high levels of harmful antibodies made rejection almost inevitable, and as her body lost viable blood vessels to support dialysis, her health declined.
Out of options, Looney applied to join a clinical trial for pig kidney transplants and ultimately underwent the seven-hour surgery on November 25.
Asked how she felt afterward, Looney’s joy was contagious. “I’m full of energy, I’m hungry… and yes, I can go to the bathroom. I haven’t been in eight years!” She laughed and said she planned to celebrate at Disney World.
Jayme Locke, a surgeon on the transplant team, described the results with surprise. “The kidney functions exactly like a kidney from a living donor,” she said, adding that Looney’s husband noticed the rosy glow in her cheeks for the first time in years.
“This is the miracle of transplantation.”
cautious optimism
Looney’s surgery marks the third time a gene-edited pig kidney has been transplanted into a human who is not brain dead.
The first recipient Rick Slayman died in May, two months after the procedure at Massachusetts General Hospital. The second, Lisa Pisano, initially showed signs of recovery after her surgery at NYU Langone, but the organ had to be removed after 47 days and she died in July.
However, Robert Montgomery, who led the surgery, said Looney was not terminally ill before the transplant. Each case, he stressed, provides important lessons for refining the techniques.
The kidneys were provided by biotech company Revivicor, which breeds genetically modified herds in Virginia. Egenesis, a Massachusetts-based company, provided Slayman with a kidney.
Looney’s organ has 10 genetic edits to improve compatibility with the human body – ahead of Revivicor’s earlier efforts, which used a kidney with a single gene edit to train the host’s immune system and prevent rejection. Pig’s thymus gland was included to help prevent this.
Montgomery, a pioneer in the field who performed the world’s first gene-edited pig organ transplant into a brain-dead patient in 2021, said both methods are likely to enter clinical trials “probably next year By this time, or even earlier.”
“This is a critical moment for the future of transplantation,” said Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation. Polling by the nonprofit shows that while patients and families support rapid clinical trial progress, they believe the risks of inaction outweigh the uncertainties of xenotransplantation.
Looney was discharged to a nearby New York City apartment on December 6. Although her high antibody levels remain a concern, doctors are monitoring her closely using wearable technology and trying an innovative drug regimen to prevent rejection.
Periodic hospital visits may still be necessary, but the team is hopeful that she can return home in three months.
