Woman with pig kidney now the longest living animal organ transplant recipient at 61 days
Towana Looney, the 53-year-old woman from Alabama who received a gene-edited pig kidney last November, has become the longest-living recipient of an animal organ transplant.
Multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press, reported that Looney is "healthy and full of energy" with her new kidney for 61 days and counting.
"I’m superwoman," she told AP. "It’s a new take on life."
She's the fifth person to have received gene-edited pig organs—two hearts and two kidneys—but none of the other recipients lived beyond two months.
“If you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning,” Robert Montgomery, a doctor at New York University Langone Health who led Looney’s transplant, told AP.
Montgomery said her kidney function is "absolutely normal."
They're hoping for Looney, who's still in New York for post-transplant checkups, to return to her hometown in February.
“We’re quite optimistic," he added, "that this is going to continue to work and work well for, you know, a significant period of time."
Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999—only for the remaining one to fail years later due to pregnancy complications.
She had been living with dialysis since December 2016. High blood pressure caused by preeclampsia had taken its toll, leaving her with chronic kidney disease.
Despite receiving priority on transplant waiting lists as a living donor, her search for a compatible kidney was a frustrating dead end. Her unusually high levels of harmful antibodies made rejection almost inevitable, and, as her body lost viable blood vessels to support dialysis, her health declined.
On Nov. 25, 2024, Looney, who was already out of options, applied to join a clinical trial for pig kidney transplants. She underwent the seven-hour surgery.
Afterward, she said she was "full of energy."
Xenotransplantation, transplanting organs from one species to another, has long been a tantalizing yet elusive scientific goal. Early experiments on primates faltered, but recent advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the dream closer to reality.
Pigs have emerged as the ideal donors: they grow quickly, produce large litters, and are already part of the human food supply.
Advocates hope this approach can help address the severe organ shortage in the United States, where more than 100,000 people are waiting for transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys. (with reports from AFP)
