RESEARCHERS from the Albany Medical
Centre (AMC) in New York, have devised
a new technique which will lead to a
blood type that would be compatible
with all blood types. They have developed a process to coat red blood
cells with a polymer called polyethylene
glycol, or PEG, that would make it
possible to transfuse any type of blood
into any patient. Red blood cells are
not affected by the chemical coating.
The technique will have important
clinical benefits, especially for patients
with rare blood types, says Mark
Scott, who is leading the research team
at AMC.
Human blood is divided into four
blood types - A, B, AB and o, depending
on the antigens present on the surface of
blood cells. If the wrong blood type is
given to a patient, these antigens can
trigger powerful and destructive reactions. But this problem can now be
overcome by coating the blood cells
with PEG so that the antigens are not
detected by the immune system. "This
prevents the destruction of foreign
blood types," says Scott.
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