02 April 07 - Scientists Have Developed a Way of Converting Blood Groups

Scientists from the University of Copenhagen have developed a technique that potentially enables blood from groups A, B and AB to be converted into O negative. This method could be instrumental in relieving blood shortages, because Group O negative can be safely transplanted into any patient, regardless of their blood type.

Some Background

There is a wealth of information about Blood on the National Blood service's website The following is a summary of the different types of blood groups.

Your blood group is identified by the existence or absence of antigens and antibodies. Protein molecules called antigens are located on the surface of red blood cells and antibodies are found in the plasma. Antibodies are your blood's natural defence against any foreign antigens in your blood. Characteristics of the differ net blood groups are as follows:

Group A - has antigens in its red blood cells and anti B antibodies in its plasma

Group B - has B antigens and anti-A antibodies in its plasma

Group O - has no antigens but both anti-A and anti-B antibodies.

Group AB - cells have both A and B antigens but no antibodies

The red blood cells can also have another protein called the rhesus factor, which is another antigen. If this antigen is present you are rhesus-positive and if it is absent you are rhesus-negative. This means that you can be one of eight blood groups: A positive, AB negative, O positive, and so on.

Around 85% of the UK population is rhesus positive, with O being the most popular blood group.

At the moment it can be fatal if you give someone incompatible blood.

The New Technique

In the course of their research, Scientists discovered two bacteria - Elizabethkingia meningosepticum and Bacterioides fragilis - which contain potentially useful enzymes. They found that enzymes from both bacteria were able to remove both A and B antigens from red blood cells.

The new process cannot do anything about the rhesus positive antigen, which means that only rhesus negative blood can be used to create the new type of group O supplies.

Patient trials will be needed before this technique can be used in hospitals, but if all goes well, many people could benefit from this break-through in the near future.

02 April 07 - Scientists Have Developed a Way of Converting Blood Groups

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