Scientists at Cambridge University have made history by successfully changing the blood type of a donor kidney.
The team from Kidney Research UK say they used a machine called a “normothermic perfusion machine – a device which connects with a human kidney to pass oxygenated blood through the organ to better preserve it for future use – to flush blood infused with an enzyme through the deceased kidney.”
They say the enzyme can be used as a “molecular scissors” to remove the blood type markers that line the blood vessels of the kidney resulting in the organ being converted to the most common O type.”
Different blood types determine who is and is not a suitable match to receive donated organs.
The researchers hope their innovative findings could make it easier for ethnic minority patients to find suitable donors faster.
They say, “One of the biggest restrictions to who a donated kidney can be transplanted to is the fact that you have to be blood group compatible. The reason for this is that you have antigens and markers on your cells that can be either A or B.”
Most people of African origin are blood type B and therefore do not suit the majority of transplant organs available in majority caucasion nations like Ireland, and the UK.
Removing the antigen, or blood type signature, means that a person with type B blood could receive a kidney from an A type donor after it has been treated to become the neutral universal donor, type O.
In the absence of this newly discovered method, the body would recognize the unsuitable blood type as a threat and mobilize an immune response much like when a virus enters the body.
“After successfully shifting blood groups to the universal O type, we need now look to whether our methods can be successful in a clinical setting and ultimately carried through to transplantation.”
The research is expected to be published in full later this year in the British Journal of Surgery.