Hospital transplants genetically modified pig skin to treat severe burns

In a groundbreaking medical procedure, a hospital in China has achieved remarkable success by transplanting genetically modified pig skin onto a patient suffering from severe burns.

Xijing Hospital, affiliated with the Air Force Medical University of the People’s Liberation Army in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, shared this achievement on its social media account.

The patient, admitted in June, had sustained burns on 90 percent of their body, with over half of the affected areas suffering from severe third-degree burns.

Dou Kefeng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an organ transplant expert at the hospital, was leading the transplant after the patient’s condition was stabilized and no longer critical.

The medical team, after extensive discussions both on the procedure and its ethical implications, opted to treat the patient’s upper limb burn wounds by using a novel technique. They “harvested” a portion of the patient’s healthy skin, fragmented it into smaller pieces, and distributed them over the affected areas.

Subsequently, they covered these areas with genetically modified pig skin cultivated by Clonorgan, a local enterprise specializing in swine-based biomedical materials.

Approximately 6 percent of the patient’s body was covered with the genetically modified pig skin. The transplant surgery took place on July 3. And the patient displayed no significant rejection reactions.

After 50 days, the pig skin naturally peeled off as the patient’s own skin grew and seamlessly merged, allowing the wounds to heal. Simultaneously, conventional skin grafting was performed on the patient’s torso and lower limbs.

In August, the hospital reported that samples of the patient’s blood and skin showed no evidence of swine-based viruses or other pathogens.

Xijing Hospital also mentioned that, in the previous year, they had transplanted genetically modified pig skin to a rhesus macaque, a close relative to humans and a critical subject for drug and vaccine testing. This successful animal experiment confirmed the feasibility and safety of using genetically modified pig skin.

Han Juntao, one of the surgeons involved in the procedure, expressed optimism regarding the potential of genetically modified pig skin as a new option for treating severely burned patients.

Traditional skin transplants from human donors often face supply instability and shortages. Earlier attempts to use regular pig skin resulted in acute rejection reactions in patients. Genetic modifications, as demonstrated in this case, have effectively mitigated these issues.

The successful transplant is hailed as a major breakthrough in xenotransplantation, the practice of transplanting organs or tissues from non-human sources, and it expands the horizons for its feasibility and effectiveness. Dou, the academician who led the medical team, noted that xenotransplantation holds significant potential as a solution to address the shortage of allogeneic (human-to-human) organs, offering promising prospects for clinical applications.