Chinese researchers have reported new advancements in the pursuit of animal-to-human organ transplants, successfully transplanting a genetically modified pig kidney into a human patient and making progress toward the potential use of pig livers.

Patients with severe liver disease could one day be kept alive with livers transplanted from pigs, scientists say. A team in China successfully transplanted the liver from a miniature pig that had been genetically modified to prevent rejection into a brain-dead human.

These advances have made it possible for scientists to create pigs with organs that are more compatible with human biology, thus reducing the chances of rejection. One common edit, for instance, removes a pig’s ability to produce alpha-gal, a sugar that the human body doesn’t make.

Doctors in China have become the first to report details about a transplant of a genetically modified pig liver into a human.

Pigs have emerged as the best animal organ donors, with several living patients in the United States having received pig kidneys or hearts in the last few years.

Efforts to transplant animal organs into humans reached a milestone, when researchers in China reported that a patient received a genetically modified pig liver that functioned for 10 days. "This is the first time we tried to unravel whether the pig liver could work well in the human body and