Artificial blood - human hope

Every year the world health industry lacks more than 50 million liters of blood for the need to save people. Yet the conditions for blood donation are increasingly more stringent due to ethical and hygiene requirements. The small amount of blood donated makes people think of a blood transfusion solution or artificial blood.

Both of these techniques are in phase IV clinical trials (tested on volunteers before being marketed). Researchers are working hard to perfect the industrial blood production solution for humans.

Genome separation of Elizabethkingia bacteria in the laboratory of Aix-Marseille University (Photo: VTD)

Adjust to blood O

In the blood transformation technique, a group of international biologists (USA, France and Denmark) have formulated two enzyme families created by Elizabethkingia and Chryseobacterium meningosepticum bacteria. These enzymes will help convert red blood cells of blood groups A, B and AB into red blood cells of the appropriate blood O for all recipients. Currently the research groups of ZymeQuest Biological Company (USA), the laboratory of microstructure and biological cell function (Aix-Marseille University I & II, France) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) are actively coordinating this technique.

The ability to convert blood from normal groups into ' rare blood ' will certainly revolutionize blood transfusion as well as blood storage. It will also help reduce the risk of mistakes that cause deadly consequences when transmitting wrong blood groups and will also create a dramatic breakthrough in treating people.

Left photo : From left to right: Stem cells are grown in nutrient solution (tube 1), after ten days it is darker red (tube 2) and in the final finished tube containing millions of red blood cells (tube 3) ). Photo taken in Professor Luc Douay's laboratory.
Right photo : In the laboratory the hematological products of the French Blood Institute at Lille. Blood bags received from blood donors will be filtered, packed and stored according to different types of products such as red blood cells, platelets, and serum (Photo: VTD).

Blood production from stem cells

In fact, the second technique is more promising: producing blood from human stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells (hématopo .étique), a precursor of erythrocytes, are numerous in the umbilical cord of the newborn. Luc Douay, head of the hematology laboratory of Armand-Trousseau Hospital in Paris (France), has succeeded in converting human stem cells into red blood cells for humans. He even created 200,000 red blood cells from a single stem cell.

The French professor is confident: ' In the very short time to come, we can produce the' global 'blood suitable for everyone, regardless of blood type. ' The only problem with him now is morality. Umbilical cord is a human component and in many countries it cannot be used as a single ingredient!