Consistent survival of life-supporting pig heart xenograft recipients beyond 90 days was recently reported using genetically modified pigs and a clinically applicable drug treatment regimen. If this remarkable achievement proves reproducible, published benchmarks for clinical translation of cardiac xenografts appear to be within reach. Key mechanistic insights are summarized here that informed recent pig design and therapeutic choices, which together appear likely to enable early clinical translation.
Keywords: cardiomyopathies; genetic engineering; heart failure; heart transplantation; heterografts; myocardial ischemia; transplantation, heterologous.