A promising experiment in organ transplantation. Scientists manage to change the blood type of a kidney

Researchers have successfully changed a kidney’s blood type from A to O and transplanted it, an advance that can reduce the waiting times for new organs and save lives. Type O -Patients, which make up more than half of the people on the waiting lists of kidney transplants, can only receive organs from donors with type O blood. However, kidneys of type O people are regularly transferred to others because they can be compatible with all other types. In a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the researchers explained what consequently type O patients usually wait longer, from 2 to 4 years, and many of them die while waiting. Traditional methods of overcoming the incompatibility of blood type require days of intensive treatment to suppress the recipient’s immune system, while the new approach uses special enzymes to bring about the change in the organ rather than the patient. In a first-class experiment in humans, an enzyme-converted kidney was transplanted into a brain dead receiver. For two days, the kidney functioned without signs of a rapid immune response, which could destroy an incompatible organ within minutes. By the third day, the researchers saw a light reaction, but the damage was much less severe than the blood type of the blood type, and according to the report, there were signs that the body was starting to accept the new organ. “This is the first time we have seen it in a human model,” says Dr. Stephen Withers, from the University of British Columbia in Canada, who led the development of the enzyme. “It gives us invaluable insight into how to improve long -term outcomes.” The researchers said that regulatory approval to perform clinical trials is the next obstacle.