A genetically modified pig kidney transplanted into a brain-dead patient in Alabama last year worked for seven days, according to research published Wednesday.

The news from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham coincided with reports that a transplanted kidney in New York has functioned for more than a month. UAB is one of several research hospitals across the country doing groundbreaking work that could pave the way for animal-to-human organ transplants in the future.

The kidney transplanted in Alabama worked for the seven-day length of the study. The organ not only produced urine, but also removed serum creatinine, a waste product that can build up in the blood of patients with kidney disease.

Kidney disease affects up to 15 percent of the adult population and is a common cause of death in the United States, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Transplantation is the gold-standard treatment, but organ shortages have created long waitlists. Many patients die before donor organs become available.

Dr. Jayme Locke, director of UAB’s Division of Transplantation, said advances in xenotransplantation, using animal organs in humans, show promise to fill some of the gaps in Alabama. The kidneys used at UAB have had several genes removed to prevent rejection.

“We really believe that xenotransplantation is a real novel solution to the organ shortage crisis that is quite lethal, and we think can really help provide health equity to the citizens of Alabama who so desperately need access to these life-saving organs,” Locke said.

The study was conducted in February 2023 on a patient who had been declared brain dead and had a history of chronic kidney disease. The patient, who is not being named, is the third to undergo a procedure to have his kidneys removed and replaced by genetically modified pig organs at UAB. After the transplant, he was treated with standard immunosuppressant drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of pig organs for transplantation and clinical trials have not yet begun. The current studies have measured the organs’ function in brain dead patients and in one man who lived with a transplanted pig heart for two months because he didn’t qualify for a regular transplant.

The people selected for transplants were organ donors whose families consented to the procedure, Locke said. The first transplant took place in January 2022 and involved a recipient from Huntsville who suffered brain death after an accident.

Locke said UAB researchers hoped to launch a Phase One research study within the year. The initial study would include a small number of patients to establish safety and effectiveness before increasing the number of participants.

On the same day that JAMA Surgery published the article about UAB”s kidney transplant, NYU’s Langone Medical Center announced that a transplanted pig kidney with just one edited gene was functioning well 32 days after it was transplanted into the body of a brain dead patient.

Although the recent studies have shown that organs can work for weeks without signs of rejection, there are still some concerns about the potential for the transmission of pig viruses. The organs used at UAB come from pigs raised is a pathogen-free environment that regularly undergo testing for infections.

About 14,000 Alabamians are on dialysis, where machines filter blood for patients with failing kidneys. Although such care can be lifesaving, it is also hard on the body and requires hours of treatment every week.

“There is urgency to this, and dialysis, in my opinion, is not the best option,” Locke said. “And we need to do whatever we can to overcome what is a very lethal organ shortage crisis that absolutely impacts our patients here in Alabama.”