PIG hearts adapted for human patients may be available within three years, reported the Xinhua news agency, quoting a prediction by a British surgeon who pioneered heart transplants.

Human organs for transplant are in short supply worldwide. Researchers and clinicians have long hoped that the challenge could be alleviated through the availability of suitable animal organs, in a concept known as “xenotransplantation”.

Pigs, in particular, have been especially promising candidates due to their similar size and physiology to humans.

Terence English, who performed Britain’s first successful heart transplant 40 years ago, told The Sunday Telegraph that xenotransplantation has the potential to “eradicate” the donor waiting list.

He said his protege in the 1979 operation is preparing to perform the world’s first pig-to-human kidney transplant by year-end.

“If the result of the xenotransplantation is satisfactory… then it is likely that hearts will be used with good effects in humans within a few years.

“If it works with a kidney, it will work with a heart. That will transform the issue.”

An international team of researchers, including British scientists, have found that delivering a small piece of genetic material called “microRNA-199” into a damaged heart encourages cells to regenerate.

According to a study released in May, the researchers delivered microRNA-199 into pig hearts following a myocardial infarction, or a heart attack. It resulted in the almost complete recovery of cardiac function one month later.

“It is a very exciting moment for the field. After so many unsuccessful attempts at regenerating the heart using stem cells… for the first time, we are seeing real cardiac repair in a large animal,” said lead author Professor Mauro Giacca from King’s College London.

It is the first demonstration that cardiac regeneration can be achieved by administering a genetic drug that stimulates such regeneration in a large animal with a heart anatomy and physiology similar to humans.

“It will take some time before we can proceed to clinical trials,” said Giacca. – Bernama, August 21, 2019.