Every day in Spain about 6,000 blood transfusions are performed for different reasons. Sometimes, they are performed in an emergency situation (accidents or emergency operations) and other times they are blood transfusions which are scheduled as a result of some treatment, such as cancer.Whatever the reason, blood transfusions are one of the most frequent hospital procedures .For these transfusions, any blood type it is welcome, but the progress we are going to talk about today is, without a doubt, a revolution in this field.Scientists have managed to convert any type of blood into universal blood!
Are any the same? blood type?
As we say, any blood type is welcome, but the process is not t It is simple as it seems.Each and every one of the blood units that are taken from donors are subjected to a series of tests to check if they are suitable and will not transmit any infectious disease to the patient.With these tests the group is also determined blood.
This process is very important, since we have to keep in mind that our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from invading cells .Depending on the type of blood that one has, his immune system will make antibodies that will react against the other types of blood.Hence the importance of knowing your blood type.
What types of blood exist?
There are 4 main blood groups; Type A, Type B, Type AB and Type 0 .In addition to this classification, blood may or may not have another marker added called Rh factor.Scientists, depending on whether or not this marker is present, differentiate blood in "positive" (with Rh factor) or "negative" (without Rh factor).The combination of all these markers results in 8 different blood types; 0 negative, 0 positive, A negative, A positive, B negative, B positive, AB negative, AB positive.
Taking into account all these types of blood, the news that they have discovered the way to make any type of blood universal, it's great!
It was the researchers at British Columbia University who found a way to turn any type of blood into a universal one that could be used with any patient.
The results of their research were presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society and said the following:
The difference between blood types, it lies in the sugars on the surface of the red blood cells that the body creates .Type A has a class of sugars and type B different ones.Similarly, type AB has both types of sugars and the type 0 has no sugars.
The problem comes if a person receives a blood transfusion from a blood type that is not their own; their immune system will attack and kill the blood cells donated.
People with blood type 0 are known as universal donors since their blood type does not contain sugars and therefore anyone can receive it because it does not create rejection.
The discovery
A few years ago it was discovered that certain enzymes could eliminate blood sugars from any type of blood and turn it into Type 0 which, as we said, it is universal.The problem was at high cost and, as the researcher Stephen Withers pointed out in a press release, an enzyme that was efficient, safe and economical had not yet been discovered.His search for that enzyme took them to the human intestine.
Withers and his team already knew that the lining of the digestive tract contained Not the same sugars found in blood cells , and that bacterial enzymes inside human feces eliminated those sugars from the lining to promote digestion.
Knowing this, the researchers they were able to isolate an enzyme that eliminates sugars from blood types A and B, and transforms them into Type O.This enzyme turned out to be 30 times more efficiently than any enzyme previously discovered.
This finding still needs to be tested in a clinical setting, to determine if this blood type conversion process can produce some unexpected and unwanted consequences.All these checks will still take some time although Withers is quite optimistic and is convinced that the enzyme discovered by his team It could be a great medical advance and would end the great problem that exists today and is the shortage of optimal blood for any type of blood.
What do you think of this great discovery? Do you think it can be a before and after in terms of surgical interventions? Tell us your opinion! We are happy to read you!
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