Scientists have grown human kidneys in pigs, for the very first time. Researchers at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wuyi University created human-pig chimeric embryos containing a combination of human and pig cells. When they transferred into 13 surrogate pig mothers, they developed kidneys that contained mostly human cells at a rate of 50 to 60 per cent, giving hope for potential transplants in the future. “Rat organs have been produced in mice, and mouse organs have been produced in rats, but previous attempts to grow human organs in pigs have not succeeded,” said the senior author Liangxue Lai. “Our approach improves the integration of human cells into recipient tissues and allows us to grow human organs in pigs.” The kidneys were not entirely human as they included vasculature and nerves made mostly from pig cells, meaning they could not be used for transplantation in their current form, but it is still a pretty impressive step. And apart from the kidneys, the embryos were dominated by pig cells, with very few human cells in the brain or central nervous system. Making brains using human and pig cells is very controversial for ethical reasons, so there are tight regulations for this kind of research. Meanwhile, pig cells tend to outcompete human cells during development, so previous experiments have created embryos that are almost entirely pig. The latest work, published in Cell Stem Cell, overcame this by genetically engineering a single-cell pig embryo so that it lacked two genes needed for kidney development. This created a gap within the embryo that could be filled by human cells. “We found that if you create a niche in the pig embryo, then the human cells naturally go into these spaces,” said Prof Zhen Dai of Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, another senior author. The scientists said that being able to incubate a fully human kidney inside a pig would be likely to take many years. “We would probably need to engineer the pigs in a much more complex way and that also brings some additional challenges,” said Miguel Esteban, also of the Guangzhou institute and a senior author. A central challenge would be to allow human nerves and vasculature to develop within the target organ without nerve cells developing in the central nervous system that could lead to a humanised brain. “Even theoretically it’s not clear how you’d do that,” said Ilic. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Sabrina Carpenter's debut performance on the tour was in Mexico City, where she sang Taylor Swift's 'Picture to Burn'

Beijing denies claims three Indian fighters are unable to enter China for the Asian Games.

For the second time this year, concerns of Chinese spying on the United States have cast a shadow over a planned visit to China by the US' top diplomat as the two superpowers try to improve fractured ties while keeping a watchful eye on each other.

Jews in communities far from Israel gathered at synagogues this weekend for their first Shabbat services since Hamas militants attacked Israel, igniting an ongoing war

Iceland’s prime minister and women across the island nation are on strike to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence

A lawyer for one of three Washington state police officers charged in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis urged jurors Monday to focus on Ellis’ past drug use and arrests

British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period, according to the results of...

Ronda Rousey married Browne at his home state of Hawaii in August 2017 and welcomed her daughter four years later in 2021

Ireland moved to the brink of the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals by beating reigning champions South Africa 13-8 in a low-scoring but thoroughly absorbing match at...

Trial is expected to open soon against two police officers charged in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was forcibly detained while walking down a street near Denver

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. Newly appointed California Senator Laphonza Butler, a Democrat, said on Thursday she will