https://english.news.cn/20230908/3eaae910c860487c9fb646aae7b1ce86/c.html

A Chinese team has grown early kidneys from human stem cells inside pig embryos, according to a study published in Cell Stem Cell. The scientists from CAS Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health used a gene-editing tool to engineer certain genes in human induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) to strengthen their capability to gain a foothold and form kidneys in pig embryos that are genetically modified to lack the ability to grow a kidney. The researchers finally harvested five embryos with organized human-pig chimeric middle-stage kidney structures within 28 days and those human donor cells could differentiate into functional cells. The proportion of human cells in the chimeric kidneys reached up to 70 percent, and the proportion of human cell contribution in the formation of mesonephric tubules reached a maximum of 58 percent.

The gestation was terminated within 3 to 4 weeks in accordance with current ethical rules.