pAris houses a secret laboratory but is coveted by all launched teams xenografts adventure. Thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, the laboratory led by Alexandre Luby at the Institute of Multiorgan Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine in Paris (BETUR) has become fundamental in analyzing the risk of rejection during the transplantation of an organ from an animal to a human (called a xenograft).
In March 2024, the team received biopsies from Richard Solomon, a 62-year-old American whose first kidney was transplanted from a genetically modified pig at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The immune barrier between species is the obstacle that xenografts have long stumbled over,” emphasizes Alexandre Luby.
“Solving the global organ shortage”
If the pig has strong anatomical similarities to humans, its organs, once introduced into the human body, elicit immune defense reactions. The researcher rejoices: “But we are entering a new era.” To try to overcome this obstacle, scientists use techniques such as: CRISPR-Cas9, a type of molecular scissors Allowing the inactivation of certain genes or the introduction of others to “humanize” the organ and enhance compatibility.
This was the condition of the kidney received by Richard Solomon, who died two months after the operation, but American doctors confirmed that they had “no indication that this was the death.” […] Read more
