14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers with the University of British Columbia in Canada and colleagues detail their work to create an enzyme that can change blood types.
The lab-made enzyme is described as a mutant by its creators. This is because it was obtained by toying with the makeup of a specific gene, the University of British Columbia team explains.
Having experimented with this enzyme in laboratory conditions, the researchers found that it can do away with most of the sugars that are naturally occurring in Type A and Type B blood.
“We produced a mutant enzyme that is very efficient at cutting off the sugars in A and B blood,” said scientist David Kwan. By eliminating these sugars, the enzyme makes A and B blood similar to Type O, known to be a universal donor.
The natural enzyme coded by the gene the researchers toyed with was too able to cut off sugars from Type A and B blood. Still, the mutant version created by David Kwan and colleagues is said to be about 170 times more effective.
The enzyme could save many lives
In their report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the University of British Columbia team explains that, these days, blood availability is a major issue in hospitals and other medical centers.
The researchers say that, by turning Type A and Type B blood into the universal donor Type O, their enzyme would make it easier for doctors to give their patients transfusions. This is because compatibility would no longer be an issue.
“The concept is not new but until now we needed so much of the enzyme to make it work that it was impractical. Now I’m confident that we can take this a whole lot further,” explained specialist Steve Withers.
The only problem is that, for now, the mutant enzyme cannot remove all the sugars that correlate with Type A and Type B blood. Nonetheless, its makers will continue to experiment with it in hopes of making it more effective.
