Dylan Stoll | Copy Editor
Featured image courtesy of Unsplash
If you’ve ever read a billboard, or listened to an advertisement about blood donations, you’ve probably heard that O Negative blood is the most needed of all the blood types by the Canadian Blood Services.
You’ve probably also heard that it’s one of the rarest blood types; only one in 15 people, equivalent to 6.6 per cent of the population, are O Negative.
Stephen Withers, a chemistry professor at the University of British Columbia, and his team of researchers have recently discovered enzymes in the human gut that are capable of essentially converting type A blood to O Negative, thereby making this elixir to life available to all.
The enzymes were found to be used by microbes to cleave sugars from the membranes of cells that exist in the mucosal lining of the stomach. The sugars resemble the structure of antigens found on blood cells, so when researchers isolated the genes responsible for the production of these enzymes, they were able to reproduce those same enzymes in E.coli bacteria en masse, then use them to strip the antigens from blood types A, B or AB.
But what is it about the O Negative blood type that makes it so desirable? More importantly, what is an antigen?
The difference between O Negative and any other blood type is that the blood cells of an O Negative carrier lack antigens, which essentially act as flags for antibodies to recognize and either attack or ignore. If you are an A blood type, for example, you will have A antigens (flags that denote the blood type as A) and B antibodies (proteins that attack foreign entities in the body, such as B blood). B antibodies will not attack type A blood because A blood has the A antigen. B antibodies, however, will attack type B blood because B blood has the B antigen.
The same goes for the opposite; if you are a B blood type, you will have B antigens on your blood cells and A antibodies to attack type A blood, a foreign entity that may enter your body through a transfusion. AB blood types have both A and B antigens, but no antibodies whatsoever; because of this, AB blood types are known as universal recipients because they lack the antibodies to attack A or B blood.
As previously stated, O Negative carriers have neither A or B antigens; their blood cannot be recognized as foreign by A or B antibodies, which is what makes them universal donors.
“Antigens can trigger an immune response if they are foreign to the body, so transfusion patients should receive either their own blood type, or type O to avoid a reaction.” explains Withers. “That’s why O blood is so important.”
O Negative blood is kept on hand by emergency care providers, such as ambulances or helicopters, to avoid this issue and save the time it would take to determine the blood type of whatever patients they are caring for.
According to Withers, researchers have been on the look-out for enzymes that can accomplish such a feat since the early 80’s. “However, these new enzymes can do the job 30 times better,” said Withers.
The enzymes found before required that the blood be broken down into its constituent parts. The enzymes that Withers and his team discovered do not need those same environmental conditions, thereby making the process of conversion more efficient.
Hopefully, the enzymes will be made ready for use by the Canadian Blood Services sooner, rather than later, as they are experiencing shortages.
As stated on their website: “When the inventory for O Negative is below eight days, it is especially needed,” currently, it sits at six days.
Withers hopes that the enzymes will assist in keeping their reserves full. “Expanding global blood supply is critical in light of growing populations and the frequency of natural disasters.”
Withers and his team are currently applying for a patent so they can test their discovery on a larger scale in conjunction with the Canadian Blood Services, before clinical testing can ensue.
