Chinese researchers on Friday announced that they have successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig liver into a living human patient with severe liver cancer, marking a breakthrough in xenotransplantation involving living humans.
According to the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in Hefei, the capital of east China's Anhui Province, the operation was conducted on May 17 by a team led by professor Sun Beicheng from the Hefei hospital, in collaboration with a team led by professor Wei Hongjiang from Yunnan Agricultural University.
Sun said that the 71-year-old patient did not experience acute or hyperacute rejection within the seven days following the operation, nor did he experience a disorder to his coagulation system.
"The operation is really difficult, and no one has done it before. We needed to make sure the outflow section of the transplanted liver was unobstructed before conducting an arterial anastomosis. The operation was completed against such a background, with the hope to do some pioneering work for human xenotransplantation," said Sun.
The operation was the first clinically assisted pig-to-human xenogeneic liver transplant and the fifth xenogeneic organ transplant in the world, he said.
The patient is able to move around freely at present, and his liver function and many other health indicators have returned to normal.
In April, Chinese researchers successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig liver into a brain-dead patient at Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University in Xi'an, transplanting a pig liver into a brain-dead human for the first time in the field of medicine.
Chinese researchers transplant gene-edited pig liver into living human patient
China's investment in fixed assets maintained steady growth in the first five months of 2024, accompanied by ongoing optimization of the investment structure, an official from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) told a press conference in Beijing on Monday.
Driven by the advancements in high-end, smart, and green manufacturing, investment in the manufacturing sector has posted strong growth momentum since the beginning of the year, according to the NBS,.
From January to May, investment in the manufacturing sector grew by 9.6 percent year on year, 5.6 percentage points faster than that of the total investment and contributing 57.3 percent to the growth of the total investment.
Notably, investment in high-tech industries has continued to expand, while investment in equipment upgrading and technological transformation has experienced accelerated growth.
"With the robust support of policies for large-scale upgrading of equipment, investment in the purchase of machinery and equipment showed a good growth momentum. In the January-May period, such investment increased by 17.5 percent year on year, outpacing the growth in the January-April period by 0.3 percentage points. Besides, there has been an accelerated pace of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. During the same period, investment in technology transformation in the manufacturing sector grew by 10 percent year on year, marking a 1.5-percentage-point acceleration," said NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua.
In addition, investment in major projects played a crucial role during the first five months, with completed investments in projects each with a planned total investment of 100 million yuan or more recording a year-on-year growth of 8.5 percent, driving a 4.6-percentage-point rise in the nation's total investment.
Looking ahead, China has broad space to increase effective investment and has huge investment potential in aspects such as innovation-driven development, transformation and upgrading, green transition, and people's livelihood, said the official.
China's investment in fixed assets grows steadily in Jan-May period
