Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Kidney news from Cambridge on possibility of removing blood type barriers

 Here's some very preliminary kidney news (a press release) in The Guardian and at Cambridge, that could have the potential to have an impact sooner rather than later in helping potential transplant recipients with blood type O, who can only receive blood type O kidneys (which can be received by patients of any blood type)...  

Researchers change blood type of kidney in transplant breakthrough University of Cambridge team’s work could significantly increase supply of organs for people with rarer blood types

"University of Cambridge researchers used a normothermic perfusion machine – a device that 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 donor’s kidney.

"The enzyme removed the blood type markers that line the blood vessels of the kidney, which led to the organ being converted to type O."

*******

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/kidneybloodtype

The scientists mentioned are Professor Michael  Nicholson and PhD student Serena MacMillan .

No comments: