Moving Xenotransplantation Research Into Human Trials

Dr. Insoo Hyun, director of research ethics and a faculty member at the Center for Bioethics, spoke on a panel about xenotransplantation at the STAT Breakthrough Science Summit in New York City. Xenotransplantation, or grafting animal organs into humans, has been slow to progress to human trials, given the low success rates in primate studies compared to human-to-human transplants. Still, the panel cautioned that the real issue plaguing patients is organ shortage, and researchers should adjust their expectations.

The transplants into recently deceased patients at NYU offer a closer solution to human testing, but researchers can’t monitor the success of such transplants long-term. “So, we wouldn’t be able to tell the patients exactly [the prognosis] unless we do the living cases and monitor for a year or two,” said Dr. Hyun.

Stat News