For the first time, a genetically modified pig kidney transplant was performed into a living human patient. The unprecedented surgery was led by Brazilian doctor Leonardo Riella , in a hospital in Boston, in the United States. The announcement about the procedure was made this Thursday (21).
This is the first time that a transplant of this type has been performed on a living patient. In 2021, a team from New York performed a similar procedure, as part of research, but on a person who had been brain dead.
According to a statement released by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where the procedure was performed, the procedure was successful and is “a historic milestone in the emerging field of xenotransplantation — the technical name for transplanting organs or tissues from one species to another.
Who is Leonardo Riella, the Brazilian doctor who led the surgery
Leonardo V. Riella is a Brazilian doctor, graduated from the Federal University of Paraná. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), a hospital in the Harvard Medical School. He also completed a Fellowship (specialization program) in Nephrology and Transplantation at BWH and at Massachusetts General Hospital Programalso in Harvard Medical School.
Currently, Riella is president of Harold and Ellen Danser and associate professor of Medicine and Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Additionally, he is director of kidney transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital and a senior investigator at the Center for Transplantation Science.
The specialist is also an associate member of the Broad Institute from Harvard and MIT, and associate and section editor of American Journal of Transplantation.
Riella worked for 16 years at BWH, between 2009 and 2020, holding positions as Medical Scientist, Associate Physician and Medical Director of Vascularized Composite Tissue Transplantation. Since then, he has worked at the hospital where he performed the pig kidney transplant.
The Brazilian doctor is also involved in several scientific researches focused mainly on understanding the mechanisms of immune regulation and the development of new therapies to promote the tolerance of transplanted organs. His research also includes investigations into how diet can affect the immune system and promote autoimmune diseases.
In addition, Riella is also involved in clinical/translational trials to identify non-invasive markers of early organ transplant rejection and to develop new assays to measure immune function in transplant patients.
Riella is still leader of the TANGO consortium, a multicenter study investigating the recurrence of glomerular disease [que afeta os glomérulos, pequenos vasos sanguÃneos responsáveis por filtrar o sangue nos rins] post-transplant, and the GENIE study, which investigates a dietary intervention in patients with nephrotic syndrome.
Riella has more than 160 scientific publications in important journals in the field, including New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Immunology, Transplantation It is American Transplant Journal. A
He has also received numerous awards, including the American Society of Transplantation (AST) Young Innovator Award, the 2016 AST Basic Sciences Career Development Award, and the 2020 Harvard Faculty Teaching Award.
The information was obtained from the Dr.'s website Leonardo Riella and in your LinkedIn profile.
Source: CNN Brasil
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