Chinese team grows humanised kidneys in pigs for first time, raising transplant hopes – and ethical concerns

Scientists in China grow organs inside pig embryos, offering potentially ‘groundbreaking solution’ as patients face donor shortage

Researchers use gene-editing tool CRISPR to allow human cells to grow, but results raise questions about ethics

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Scientists in China used gene-editing technology to create a “vacancy” in pig embryos, allowing human cells to grow in its place. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:31pm, 8 Sep 2023Updated: 9:30pm, 8 Sep 2023

In a world first, a team of scientists in China has grown kidneys that are mostly human inside pig embryos – presenting an “attractive alternative” to transplant organs that are in short supply, but raising ethical concerns about potential risks.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health published their findings in the journal Cell Stem Cell on Thursday, showing the potential to grow organs for transplant and research in pigs.

According to China Science Net, it is the first time a solid human organ has been grown inside another species.

Kidneys are one of the most commonly transplanted organs. However, donor kidney shortages make it difficult to provide healthy organs to recipients who need them.

Growing human organs in large mammal embryos “would be a groundbreaking solution” to this problem, according to the paper.

Lai Liangxue, the study’s corresponding author, told Science Net his team’s method of inserting human stem cells into recipient tissue helped improve the cultivation of human stem cells within the embryos.

Out of more than 1,800 embryos involved in the study, five embryos succeeded in growing without degenerating, and these embryos grew kidneys containing 50 to 60 per cent human cells. Due to ethical considerations and the risk of embryonic degradation, gestation was stopped at 28 days, according to the paper.

They used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to target two genes that are part of kidney development to limit pig cell growth. Dai Zhen, one of the study authors, said doing this created a “vacancy in the pig embryo” that allowed human cells to grow in its place, according to Science Net.

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