Researchers have converted a blood type A kidney to a blood type O kidney and successfully transplanted it, they reported in Nature Biomedical Engineering, an advance that could reduce wait times for new organs and save lives.
“Traditional methods for overcoming blood-type incompatibility require days of intensive treatment to suppress the recipient’s immune system, while the new approach employs special enzymes to change the organ rather than the patient”. According to the journal.
In a first-in-human experiment, an enzyme-converted kidney was transplanted into a brain-dead recipient. For two days, the kidney functioned without signs of the rapid immune reaction that can destroy an incompatible organ within minutes. By the third day, the researchers saw a mild reaction, but the damage was far less severe than in a typical blood-type mismatch, and there were signs that the body was beginning to tolerate the organ, the journal added.
“This is the first time we’ve seen this play out in a human model,” said Dr. Stephen Withers of the University of British Columbia, who co-led the enzyme development. “It gives us invaluable insight into how to improve long-term outcomes.”
He noted that the research team is seeking regulatory approval to conduct large-scale clinical trials, with the goal of integrating the technique into future medical practice.
