In Canada, the average wait time to receive an organ transplant, like a kidney is almost five years. I have an uncle in Ontario who was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2008 and waited almost 8 years for a kidney transplant. The delay in this procedure was mainly because he is O type blood, meaning that he could only receive a kidney from donors who also had O type blood. With a lack of organ donors and difficulties in blood type matching the wait for organ transplants could continue to increase.
This year, however, Steven Withers and his research group in the UBC Chemistry department have discovered gut enzymes that can transform any blood type into the universal donor, O type. Scientists have been researching methods to increase the number of blood matches since the 1980’s, especially with the growing population and increased frequency of natural disasters. Almost half of Canada’s population has O type blood which can be received by all other blood types. However, O type themselves can only receive blood transfusions from other O types which is exactly where the problem lies.
O Type Blood-Wikimedia Commons
Blood type is determined genetically by antigens, molecules made of protein and sugars. In the case of blood typing, the antigens are specialized sugar structures attached to the surface of red blood cells. Different blood types have different antigens; for example, those with A type blood have the A type antigens, those with AB blood have both A and B antigens and O type has no antigens. For one to receive a blood transfusion, the blood type of the donor must match that of the acceptor or be O type.
ABO Blood Type-Wikimedia Commons
If the blood type does not match, the body’s immune system will fail to recognize the foreign antigens and attack the newly transfused blood cells which can be a life-threatening response. In emergencies, there is often not enough time to perform a blood test, therefore giving a patient O type blood is the safest and fastest method increasing the overall demand of O type. Converting any type of blood into O type is the key to saving more lives by making transfusions more accessible.
Withers strategy in transforming blood types to O type, was to find enzymes that consumed or cleaved sugars that were similar to the antigens present on red blood cells. To accomplish this he used metagenomics, a type of genetic analysis that samples DNA from millions of microorganisms finding similar environments to the desired enzyme. Withers eventually found enzymes housed in the mucosal lining of the gut that cleaved sugars similar to blood antigens. He cloned these enzymes assessing their efficiency and functionality on actual red blood cells, concluding that they were able to remove all antigens from the surface of the blood cells.
Previously, Withers and his research group isolated different enzymes that seemed to cleave the same sugars, but they were inefficient and inconsistent. Withers is now moving forward with the enzymes applying for patents and hopefully proceeding to clinical trials in the near future, they “hope that one day [they] can eventually render any type of donated blood, tissues or organs, safe for use by anyone regardless of their native blood type.”
While I believe that this type of research is important, I also think a larger problem lies in the lack of people actually donating blood. In the United States alone, almost 38% of the population is eligible to give blood, but only about 10% donate on a regular basis. In addition to Withers enzyme, more of the population needs to be aware of the importance of donating blood which I believe would increase the amount of overall donations a year.
-Priya Baichoo
