Donate blood… to yourself?
According to study results published in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology, researchers have successfully injected cultured red blood cells (cRBCs) created from human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into the same human donors. The Paris-based research team successfully generated billions of cRBCs in a petri dish with the aid of specific growth factors that regulate the proliferation and maturation of HSCs into red blood cells. The researchers then injected the cells into four mouse models and confirmed that the cells were able to progress through the full maturation process. Using human donors, the researchers repeated the process of creating another set of cRBCs and injected the cells back into the donor’s own body to assess their survival. After 26 days, the survival rate of cRBCs in the donor’s bloodstream was between 41–63 per cent comparable to the average 28-day half-life of normal native red blood cells. These results demonstrate that the lifespan and survival rate of cultured cells are similar to conventional red blood cells. They provide hope that one day, patients in need of a blood transfusion might become their own donors.
*— Maleeha Majid
Source: Science Daily*
