Scientist Discovers Enzyme To Turn Blood To Type-O

The “O” blood Type has become the most sought-after blood type as it is a universal donor and much needed in cases of emergency blood transfusion.

Due to the aforementioned reason, scientist from the University of British Columbia thought it wise to go in search of a viable way to transform donor blood into the universal type needed for safe transfusion.

Stephen Withers, according to BBC, discovered a gut bug enzyme from gut bacteria that can transform type Type-A human blood into type-O.

It will be nice to recall that Patients with type-O blood can only receive type-O, while other blood types (A, B, AB) can receive from type-O because it is compatible with other blood types in transfusion.

But this new discovery will strip markers from the surface of the donor red blood cells present in type A, making the recipient’s immune system think the donor type-A blood is type-O hence not attack it for being “foreign”.

“I am optimistic that we have a very interesting candidate to adjust donated blood to a common type.

“Of course, it will have to go through lots of clinical trials to make sure that it doesn’t have any adverse consequences but it is looking very promising.

“It works in whole blood, so you could see this being put into the bag at the time of collection and just sitting there doing its job while this stuff is being stored.

“Obviously, the next stages are all about safety, making sure this doesn’t cause any inadvertent effects,” Mr Withers said.

This development, however, promises to manage emergencies, as there might be little or no time to carry out a full check to determine a good blood match.