A Brief History of Cross-Species Organ Transplantation
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative historical review without systematic literature search or original empirical clinical data.
OpenAlex W165227141 · doi:10.1080/08998280.2012.11928783
What was done
This paper provides a narrative historical review of cross-species transplantation (xenotransplantation) from the 17th century to the modern era, detailing early blood transfusions, tissue grafts, nonhuman primate whole-organ transplants, and modern genetic engineering approaches in pigs.
What was found
The abstract reports historical milestones: Reemtsma transplanted chimpanzee kidneys into 13 patients in 1963–1964 (one survived almost 9 months); Hardy conducted the first human heart transplant in 1964 using a chimpanzee heart (patient died within 2 hours); and Starzl achieved 70-day patient survival in 1992 following a baboon liver transplant. Current efforts focus on genetically modified pigs showing increased graft survival in nonhuman primate models.
Why it matters
The paper contextualizes the biological and surgical challenges of xenotransplantation and shows how genetic engineering emerged to address cross-species immune rejection.
Limits
This is a narrative historical overview, not a systematic review or empirical clinical trial. It offers descriptive historical accounts from published cases without quantitative synthesis, risk-of-bias evaluation, or systematic reporting of preclinical survival metrics.
Cited by
- supports In the 1960s, a chimpanzee kidney transplant into a human patient survived and functioned for nine months.