A team from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the first in the world to study the use of genetically engineered pig hearts for infants waiting for heart transplantation.
The study was led by John David Cleveland, MD, a congenital heart surgeon at CHLA’s Heart Institute, and presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation’s annual meeting, according to an April 28 news release from the hospital.
“The goal is to be able to use pig hearts instead of machines to support these babies until a suitable human heart can be found,” Dr. Cleveland said in the release. “A pig heart could potentially allow babies to go home while they wait for a human heart, as opposed to being connected to a [ventricular assist device] in the hospital.”
Over the past five years, researchers have transplanted genetically modified pig hearts into 14 young, size-matched baboons. Eight of the 14 baboons have survived for several months, with one having so far lived for almost 21 months, including during an episode of acute rejection reversal.
“The immature pediatric immune system is much more capable of accepting something completely foreign than the adult system is,” Dr. Cleveland said. “We still have more research to do. But our hope is that we can eventually offer these babies a much better chance to live.”
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