An Alabama woman is recovering well after a last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs.
Towana Looney is the given a 鈥� and notably, she isn鈥檛 as sick as who died within of receiving a pig kidney or heart.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like a new beginning,鈥� Looney, 53, told The Associated Press. Right away, 鈥渢he energy I had was amazing. To have a working kidney 鈥� and to feel it 鈥� is unbelievable.鈥�
Looney鈥檚 surgery marks an important step as scientists get ready for formal studies of xenotransplantation expected to begin next year, said Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led the highly experimental procedure.
Looney is recuperating well after her transplant, which was announced Tuesday. She was discharged from the hospital just 11 days after surgery to continue recovery in a nearby apartment although temporarily readmitted this week while her medications are adjusted. Doctors expect her to return home to Alabama in three months. If the pig kidney were to fail, she could begin dialysis again.
鈥淭o see hope restored to her and her family is extraordinary,鈥� said Dr. Jayme Locke, Looney鈥檚 original surgeon who secured Food and Drug Administration permission for the Nov. 25 transplant.
More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney. Thousands die waiting and many more who need a transplant never qualify. Now, searching for an alternate supply, scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more humanlike.
Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999. Later a complication during pregnancy caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually failed. It鈥檚 incredibly rare for living donors to develop kidney failure although those who do are given extra priority on the transplant list.
But Looney couldn鈥檛 get a match 鈥� she had developed antibodies abnormally primed to attack another human kidney. Tests showed she鈥檇 reject every kidney donors have offered.
Then Looney heard about pig kidney research at t and told Locke, at the time a UAB transplant surgeon, she鈥檇 like to try one. In April 2023, Locke filed an FDA application seeking an emergency experiment, under rules for people like Looney who are out of options.
The FDA didn鈥檛 agree right away. Instead, the world鈥檚 first gene-edited pig kidney transplants went to two sicker patients last spring, at Massachusetts General Hospital and NYU. Both also had serious heart disease. The Boston patient recovered enough to spend about a month at home before dying of sudden cardiac arrest deemed unrelated to the pig kidney. NYU鈥檚 patient had heart complications that damaged her pig kidney, forcing its removal, and she later died.
Those disappointing outcomes didn鈥檛 dissuade Looney, who was starting to feel worse on dialysis but, Locke said, hadn鈥檛 developed heart disease or other complications. The FDA eventually allowed her transplant at NYU, where Locke collaborated with Montgomery.
Even if her new organ fails, doctors can learn from it, Looney told the AP: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 going to work or not until you try.鈥�
Blacksburg, Virginia-based Revivicor provided Looney鈥檚 new kidney from a pig with 10 gene alterations. Moments after Montgomery sewed it into place, the kidney turned a healthy pink and began producing urine.
Looney was initially discharged on Dec. 6, wearing monitors to track her blood pressure, heart rate and other bodily functions and returning to the hospital for daily checkups before her medication readmission. Doctors scrutinize her bloodwork and other tests, comparing them to prior research in animals and in hopes of spotting an early warning if problems crop up.
鈥淎 lot of what we鈥檙e seeing, we鈥檙e seeing for the first time,鈥� Montgomery said.
During a visit last week with Locke, who now works for the federal government, Looney hugged her longtime doctor, saying, 鈥淭hank you for not giving up on me.鈥�
鈥淣ever,鈥� Locke responded.
