World’s First! Chinese Team Successfully Achieves Combined Whole Liver and Dual Kidney Xenotransplantation in a Human
Release time:
2026-06-05
For a long time, xenotransplantation has made progress primarily in single-organ transplants. However, the human body is a complex system, and replacing a single organ is often insufficient to maintain systemic homeostasis. On May 29, a team led by Professor Sun Xuyong from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University published a landmark study in Med (Cell Press), reporting the world’s first orthotopic combined transplantation of a whole liver and both kidneys from a gene-edited pig into a human. The study was also highlighted in Nature. This breakthrough marks a shift in xenotransplantation from “single-organ efforts” to “multi-organ coordination,” offering a new path to address the global organ shortage crisis.
Surgical Design and Gene-Editing Strategy
The research team selected a 427‑day‑old Bama minipig as the donor and used a “3‑knockout + 3‑insertion” six‑gene editing strategy: they knocked out GGTA1, CMAH, and B4GALNT2, three antigen genes responsible for hyperacute rejection in humans, and inserted hCD46, hCD55, and hTBM, three human genes that regulate immunity and coagulation. The recipient was a 53‑year‑old brain‑dead male who had suffered cerebral hemorrhage. He had end‑stage renal disease before the transplant, with a creatinine level of 513 μmol/L and long‑term dependence on dialysis. His own healthy liver had been donated to another patient.
With informed consent from the family and rigorous ethical review, the team used a self‑developed surgical technique—the “Sun’s Orthotopic Combined Liver‑Kidney Transplantation”—which involved implanting the whole liver and both kidneys orthotopically, completing vascular anastomosis and reperfusion through a single surgical incision. The cold ischemia time was controlled to 281 minutes, meeting clinical safety standards.
Functional Validation and Future Challenges
During 106 hours (nearly five days) of intensive monitoring, the transplanted organs showed remarkable physiological activity: the liver began secreting bile within 19 hours after surgery, reaching approximately 20 mL by 48 hours; kidney function recovered rapidly, with the recipient’s creatinine and blood urea nitrogen returning to normal levels, and uric acid levels continuously decreasing—thanks to uricase expressed by the pig liver, achieving cross‑species metabolic complementation for the first time. More importantly, no hyperacute rejection (HAR)—the most feared complication—occurred throughout the entire process.
Using single‑cell sequencing and metabolomics, the team mapped for the first time the human adaptive response to multi‑organ xenotransplantation: although human immune cells (such as S100A12⁺ neutrophils) rapidly infiltrated the pig organs, they did not mount an attack under the dual protection of gene editing and immunosuppression; systemic metabolism gradually shifted from a “pig‑like” to a “human‑like” pattern, demonstrating that the pig liver can undergo metabolic reprogramming in the human body.
Despite the significant results, the study has limitations: a single recipient and single donor, a short observation period of 106 hours (limited by family wishes), and a lack of long‑term data. Professor Sun Xuyong’s team stated that their next steps include conducting 3–5 transplants in brain‑dead recipients, focusing on solving coagulation stability and long‑term functional durability, as well as advancing non‑human primate studies to lay the groundwork for future clinical trials in living patients.
Millions of people worldwide lose their lives each year due to organ shortages. This breakthrough proves that multi‑organ xenotransplantation is feasible in the complex human environment, and the Chinese team is illuminating a new dawn for the organ shortage crisis.
Latest developments
Yinfeng Foundation Honored as "2025 Public Welfare Donor" by Jinan Red Cross
Looking ahead, Yinfeng Foundation will use this recognition as an opportunity to further deepen its strategic collaboration with the Jinan Red Cross, expand cooperation in areas such as life health and emergency response, and continue to empower efforts to accelerate the construction of a "new, strong, excellent, rich, beautiful, and high-quality" modern socialist strong capital city, contributing even more Yinfeng strength to this endeavor.
The team successfully developed the CryoSIM platform, an intelligent microfluidics and deep learning-integrated system. This platform deeply integrates core technologies of deep learning and microfluidics to enable high-throughput, high-precision automated analysis of oocyte membrane permeability. It provides a novel technological tool for optimizing and advancing the clinical translation of oocyte cryopreservation techniques. Additionally, it offers an innovative practical paradigm for the application of artificial intelligence in low-temperature biomedicine and reproductive medicine.
Public Welfare Partnership: A Special Letter from the Jinan Red Cross
On the afternoon of January 30, 2026, the Jinan Red Cross presented a letter of special significance to the Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Public Welfare Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Yinfeng Foundation).
World’s First Achievement Highlights Brand Leadership
In the future, Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute will continue to uphold its mission of "Dedicated to Medical Technology, Safeguarding Human Health." It will empower brand building with more original and pioneering scientific and technological achievements, contributing wisdom and strength to Shandong's goal of building a national regional innovation hub and promoting Chinese brands on the global stage.
Global First Ovarian Tissue Dual Activation Technology Debuts at 2025 Jinan Achievements Conference
Currently, the ovarian tissue dual activation technology has been successfully applied in clinical practice at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Shenzhen (Longgang) Hospital, having treated over 400 patients with a treatment success rate of 70%. Over the next three years, Shandong Yinfeng Life Science Research Institute plans to use Jinan as a center to gradually expand the transformation and application of this technological achievement nationwide.
According to the latest announcement from the International Society of Cryobiology, Professor Xu Yi from the School of Health Science and Engineering at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and a member of the Yinfeng Cryomedicine Expert Committee, has been elected as a Board Governor of the Society for a three-year term (2026–2028). The election was conducted through a democratic vote by all members worldwide, with three new Board Governors elected. Professor Xu Yi is the only scholar from Asia elected to the Society’s Board of Governors this time and the third elected scholar from mainland China in the Society’s 60-year history.
Yinfeng Life Continuation Plan
Address: Yinfeng Biotechnology Park, 1758 Gangyuan 6th Road, High-tech Zone, Jinan City, Shandong Province
Zip Code: 250102
Telephone: 0086-0531-88897351
Mobile: 0086-19953155515
Mobile website
Official WeChat Public Number
Links:Red Cross Society of China丨Shandong Red Cross Society丨Shandong Provincial Health Commission | Yinfeng Group| Yinfeng Biological Group
All rights reserved©Yinfeng Life Continuation Powered by www.300.cn SEO
