Scientists in China have reported transplanting a genetically modified pig lung into a human. The 39-year-old patient was a brain dead individual and the lungs were viable and functioning for nine days after surgery. This six-month-old pig, Violet, belongs to eGenesis, a company that does xenotransplantation but that was not involved in this lung transplantation study.

For the first time ever documented, a pig lung was transplanted into a human, scientists in China announced on Monday in a study published in Nature Medicine. The transfer, which took place in May, 2024 in Guangzhou, was short-lived -- the patient was brain-dead and the immune response was only monitored for nine days. Scientists told National Geographic they stopped the experiment once "our main scientific goals were achieved" -- assessing the patient for uncontrolled infection and organ rejection -- and also at the family's request.

The study marks another critical milestone for xenotransplanation, or the practice of exchanging organs between species, and comes on the heels of recent transplants of pig kidneys and hearts into human patients.

The 39-year-old patient didn't immediately and intensely reject the lung, which was from a gene-edited pig, the study authors noted, though the person did exhibit an immune response and some organ damage. The scientists added that "substantial challenges" remain before lung xenotransplantation can be safely performed in a medical setting, including how to best manage that immune response.