Scientists Change Blood Type Of Donor Kidneys, Making Future Transplants Easier

In a medical breakthrough, scientists have managed to change the blood type of donor kidneys. This could change the life of people with kidney ailments in the near-future, scientists hope.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have managed to change the blood type among three deceased donor kidneys. With this, scientists hope to increase the supply of kidneys available for transplant. This may be especially true for ethnic minorities who are less likely to be a match for donated kidneys, a press release stated.

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Making kidneys compatible with everyone

Professor Mike Nicholson and PhD student Serena MacMillan essentially used a device called "normothermic perfusion machine" that connects with the kidney to pass oxygenated blood through the organ in hopes of preserving it for future use - "to flush blood infused with an enzyme through the deceased kidney."

The enzyme in question acted like "molecular scissors" to remove blood type markers that are lined across a kidney's blood vessels. This way, the organ may be converted to the blood type O.

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If the blood type is changed to the universal O, transplants can take place among each other freely. "Our confidence was really boosted after we applied the enzyme to a piece of human kidney tissue and saw very quickly that the antigens were removed," MacMillan said.

Scientists believe that people belonging to ethnic minority groups have to sometimes wait a year longer than Caucasian patients to fight the right fit. With this tech, they may be able to shorten the waiting period.

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Now, the Cambridge team wants to see how the newly changed O type kidney will react to a patient's usual blood type. The perfusion machine allows testing to take place in people with different blood groups. In the coming months, the study's detailed findings will be published in the British Journal of Surgery.

What do you think about changing the blood type of donated kidneys to save lives of people? Let us know in the comments below.?For?more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.

References

Staff, S. X. (2022, August 16). Researchers have successfully changed blood type of donor kidneys. MedicalXpress.?