Chinese doctors have transplanted a pig’s liver into a human for the first time

After decades of experimentation, pigs are recognized as the best organ donors for humans.

Chinese doctors said Wednesday they had transplanted the liver of a genetically modified pig into a brain-damaged human for the first time, raising hopes that patients may be able to use donor organs to save lives in the future.

Pigs have become the best organ donors among animals, with several living patients in the US having received pig kidneys or heart transplants in the past few years.

The liver was more difficult to transplant – it had not previously been studied in the human body.

But with a huge and growing demand for donor livers around the world, researchers hope that genetically modifying pigs could bring at least temporary relief to critically ill patients on long waiting lists.

Doctors from the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an, China, announced the latest breakthrough in the field in a study published in the journal Nature.

According to the study, on March 10, 2024, the liver of a miniature pig with six edited genes that improved its donor characteristics was transplanted into a brain-dead adult in the hospital.

The trial was terminated after 10 days at the family’s request, the doctors said, adding that they had strictly followed ethical guidelines.

“Bridge” organ

The patient, whose name, gender and other details have not been disclosed, had his own liver left over and received what is known as an assisted transplant.

It is thought that such a transplant could serve as a “bridge organ” to support the existing livers of sick people waiting for a suitable human donor.

For 10 days, doctors monitored blood flow, bile production, immune response and other key liver functions.

The pig liver “functioned very well” and “secreted bile smoothly” and produced the key protein albumin, study co-author Lin Wang of Xi’an Hospital told a news conference.

“This is a great achievement” that could help people with liver problems in the future, he added.

Other researchers also welcomed the breakthrough but emphasized that this early step could not confirm that the pig organ could replace human liver.

A liver transplant was complicated because the liver has several different functions – unlike the heart, for example, which just pumps blood,” Lin says.

The liver filters the blood, breaking down substances such as drugs and alcohol, and also produces bile, which eliminates waste and breaks down fats.

According to Lin, pig liver produced much less bile and albumin than human liver.

More research is needed, including studying the pig’s liver over a longer period of time than 10 days, he added.

Next, doctors plan to test gene modification of the pig liver on conscious humans.

Peter Friend, a professor of transplantology at Oxford University who was not involved in the study, said the findings were “valuable and impressive.”

However, “this is not a replacement for liver transplantation from human donors (at least in the near future),” he told AFP in an email.

“This is a useful test of the compatibility of genetically modified livers with human livers and points to a future in which such organs will be able to support patients with liver failure.”

Lin emphasized that the collaboration with U.S. researchers is crucial.

“Frankly, we have learned a lot from all the research done and studied by American physicians,” he said.

Last year, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania grafted a pig liver into a brain-dead patient, but the organ remained outside the body instead of being transplanted.

Both U.S. recipients of pig heart transplants have died.

Tovana Looney, 53 years old, returned home to Alabama after her pig kidney transplant on November 25, 2024.

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Published: 28.03.2025

Updated: 27.03.2025

Medical author, Medical editor:

Stepan Yuk

Medical expert:

PhD. Olexandr Voznyak