Artificial Blood, Now the Stuff of Factories

[Gaidin]

Awesome

It is the stuff of gothic science fiction: men in white coats in factories of blood and bones.But the production of blood on an industrial scale could become a reality once a trial is conducted in which artificial blood made from human stem cells is tested in patients for the first time.

It is the latest breakthrough in scientists’ efforts to re-engineer the body, which have already resulted in the likes of 3d-printed bones and bionic limbs.

Marc Turner, the principal researcher in the £5 million programme funded by the Wellcome Trust, told The Telegraph that his team had made red blood cells fit for clinical transfusion.

Prof Turner has devised a technique to culture red blood cells from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells – cells that have been taken from humans and ‘rewound’ into stem cells. Biochemical conditions similar to those in the human body are then recreated to induce the iPS cells to mature into red blood cells – of the rare universal blood type O-.

“Although similar research has been conducted elsewhere, this is the first time anybody has manufactured blood to the appropriate quality and safety standards for transfusion into a human being,” said Prof Turner.
There are plans in place for the trial to be concluded by late 2016 or early 2017, he said. It will most likely involve the treatment of three patients with Thalassaemia, a blood disorder requiring regular transfusions. The behaviour of the manufactured blood cells will then be monitored.
“The cells will be safe,” he said, adding that there are processes whereby cells can be removed.
The technique highlights the prospect of a limitless supply of manufactured type O- blood, free of disease and compatible with all patients.
“Although blood banks are well-stocked in the UK and transfusion has been largely safe since the Hepatitis B and HIV infections of the 1970s and 1980s, many parts of the world still have problems with transfusing blood,” said Prof Turner.
However, scaling up the process to meet demand will be a challenge, as Prof Turner’s laboratory conditions are not replicable on an industrial scale. “A single unit of blood contains a trillion red blood cells. There are 2 million units of blood transfused in the UK each year,” he said.
Currently, it costs approximately £120 to transfuse a single unit of blood. If Prof Turner’s technique is scaled up efficiently, it could substantially reduce costs.
Dr Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said: “One should not underestimate the challenge of translating the science into routine procedures for the clinic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the challenge Professor Turner and colleagues have set out to address, which is to replace the human blood donor as the source of supply for life-saving transfusions."
For the moment, factories of blood remain the stuff of fiction.

[RubiconDecision]

There's been a history of giving patients totipotent and pluripotent stem cells who have blood disorders for some time.

The main issue with regular blood is getting enough volunteers. There are many such volunteers who tirelessly donate blood, but they are often burnt out by the process. Less and less people will donate blood. It is a perpetual problem to get people to do this, even though it is remarkably simple to do. Most people can donate blood, but a few groups shouldn't donate blood.

And it's not just blood donation, for there are factors within blood which are used for burn victims and for others, but this requires more time. In addition, some people donate plasma. They can donate many times in a month, as the packed red blood cells are returned to them, taking only the plasma. A lot of improverished people do this, but it is not a fast process versus simply donating a pint of blood, as the packed red blood cells are centrifuged, and then both this and saline is trickled back through a IV.

Having an artifical blood source is very helpful. Blood centers like the Red Cross try to both manage the blood supply by donation and storage, but since demand is high and the blood cannot stored more than 42 days, then this is a persistent supply issue. In addition, there are blood types, some of which are rare, and so these are persistently in very short supply.

All of which most people should donate blood and regularly. Sadly, most people are not altruistic and will not do something that is practically painless, and takes less than an hour to do, and that small action could save a life.

Because of religious reasons, Jehovah Witnesses will NOT generally accept blood transfusions, and so they might be saved by artifical blood. It depends upon how it is manufactured. There may be other religious groups with that belief, but I am unaware of them.

Having more would be hugely helpful in cases of disaster or in battlefield situations. If there is a disaster in your region, every possible person should donate blood, as no only might the ability to store blood be compromised, but a much larger than average demand for blood might exist.

Having more blood might or might not help hemophiliacs or those with thrombocytopenia or those who received routine blood transfusions. When one has numerous blood transfusions, the patient gets iron overload.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_overload

Because a cancer patient, a patient with sickle cell anemia, repeated heart attacks, etc all might have repeated blood transfusions, then iron overload becomes a major issue, even if there is adequate blood.

Heart disease is prevalent in postmodern society. A third will need a transfusion. Any patient in a severe car wreck or who faces severe trauma might need transfusions. In the interest of being altruistic, please consider donating blood.

While artifical blood might seem to be an answer, not only will it have to have the components of real blood, but it will have to perform in the same characteristics as a fluid to pump through the heart and circulatory system and be filtered by the liver and kidneys, or else it will fail in hemodynamics.

One can donate blood every 84 days (a very short donation time since no blood products come back to the donor). One can donate plasma every 28 days (a much slower process, pays the donor since few people tend to donate, blood products are reinfused in the donor). One can donate blood platelets every 8 days (takes a longer time to donate but is very needed for chemotherapy patients).
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donatin...ypes-donations

You will often hear if you're around a hospital or medical center that there is a critical shortage of blood. In many regions they are persistently experiencing a critical shortage of blood. The main reason that this very broken system is maintained is by volunteers. Why not consider if you could be doing this to help your community?

"The largest blood donation involved 43,732 participants and was organised by Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan (India) at Dera Sacha Sauda, Haryana, India, on 8 August 2010."
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/...lood-donation/
Since blood is only good for 42 days, what we need are people to commit to donating four times a year in their regions. That's only four hours of your time per year and will not harm you.

[G-Megas-Doux]

Technology making me less significant every day. O Rhs Neg here.

So the day will come when factories can produce alien blood. I always think that is funny when google returns that near the top. I do hope that the technology to create thus is with us soon it would be fortunate for us if this continued to be stem cell produced as the more biological the product the greater the success chance of acceptance by the body.

[Gaidin]

What Rubicon isn't realizing is that you can donate the specialized parts of the blood more often than you can the blood in general. If this works, this makes taking donations a lot easier because, we can then say to people, "we need platelets, not blood. Give us platelets every two weeks instead of blood every eight". Score. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses are stupid in that sense and I am pretty indifferent about the people that don't take the transfusions unless they're refusing on behalf of the child that will then die. Then I get pissed.

[G-Megas-Doux]

I think the real unfortunate thing is that blood can only be donated every 84 days but it can only be kept for 42 days. This guarantees that to keep blood levels stable you need twice as many donating people as there are blood packs stored.

[RubiconDecision]

Actually I've given both blood and plasma for years. I started as a college student decades ago. The problem is very few people donate. With a bad economy there are more people donating plasma, which really helps burn victims. Some are probably donating platelets for the same reason but for blood cancer patients .

I've literally begged people to donate, but people make excuses since it's an hour of their time to donate plain old blood, and a much longer period of time to get screened for plasma donation, then to take it out, then to get the red blood cells back, then to be checked out.

Some people will once a year donate blood as long as it's made extremely convenient. This used to take the form of going to various workplaces and setting up an assembly line of volunteers and workstations, and then doing it at shift change so those arriving and those departing could donate. Most of the time people are in a hurry to get home. There's a small chance of staining a shirt, so if you think of donating, bring one extra one to wear in case of blood stains (rarely happens mostly if there's a mistake with venipuncture or if the bandage comes off too soon).

What we need is regular blood donation. You cannot do it sooner for regular blood donation than 84 days. But if those same donors gave four times a year, this would genuinely help to provide a consistent supply. All blood types are needed, some are universal donors, but blood is almost always crosstyped and matched for surgeries, but in emergencies people can take blood that is not specifically their blood type but in a formulaic way. Those with rare blood types could be true heroes by donating routinely.

In history, soldiers both the medical team and combatants have donated much more blood then they are supposed to under emergency conditions but could cause anemia and make them very ill or pass out.

Artifical blood is GREAT! Trust me, if it works it will help save countless lives, as blood could be planned to be generated. Supplies wouldn't be wasted as much as it would be made upon demand based upon how long that period of generation took plus testing. The problem is hemodynamics. We'll have to see in testing if blood transfusions will work with artificial blood and if there won't be problems in circulation in the heart (being pumped), lungs (gas exchange for CO2 and O2), in the liver (filtering) and kidneys (controlling blood pressure). Having all of the factors of blood will be great as long as it acts similarly as a fluid and performs the functions of blood as well.

Re: Jehovah's Witnesses
It's very hard to get them to change. The Bible verse they rely upon to negate accepting blood transfusions has to do with eating meat that was sacrifced to idols. In the old days that meat was then surrepticiously sold and people bought it. The Jehovah's Witnesses claim that no blood can enter into their bodies as blood is sacred and synonymous with life. So the introduction of blood for them means breaking some ideas from the Bible.

On the flipside, one of the reasons for finding alternative blood sources was in fact their refusal to have blood transfusions.

[G-Megas-Doux]

Yes clotting will be a major factor as artificial blood has to replicable natural blood completely this could be just as much a problem as the bits you touched on. Also kudos for the donations. I haven't donated since college and I don't think either of my attempts would have been good. Attempt one unable to complete as I clotted before 1 unit. Attempt 2 managed the whole unit I felt fine that day but the day after I came down with a large cold so the blood might have been infected with the common cold.

[RubiconDecision]

Almost everyone can donate regular blood. I agree, I clot fast, but it's never been a problem. However, not many can donate plasma. They are very picky because of where they wish to do the venipuncture. In some people the location results in problems and they worry about infection, or it the red blood cells can be taken back. As a result they will reject several people who have waited for an hour or more, and some get very irritable as some places are more lenient than others.

Because plasma donation is a business paying the donor, there actually are problems since many are undernourished, dehydrated, potential drug users, alcoholics, etc. Many are impoverished college students who engage in risky sexual behaviour but then need the money. This is not a good situation for a critical health product needed by very medically fragile patients.

Some people due to risky behavior shouldn't donate. Those who have risky behavior(s) should get tested and regularly based upon when such risky behavior happened.There are actually places, spiritual and otherwise, who will be with the person being tested because of fear of the results. Far too many people have health issues that are unreported due to fear. Better to know so you can get treatment and care, then to accidentally give someone else a contagious disease. No judgements, just some compassionate common sense to get tested, and then have peace of mind which is priceless.

[G-Megas-Doux]

I may chose to donate blood again in the future. However I want to get healthy first. I have been overweight for the last 11 years and the most part obese or near obese so I want to get to a regular weight then of course check for any diseases. However on the plus side I don't do drugs and I gave up drink in Nov 2011 so that should help with my health.

[RubiconDecision]

There is a very high chance that even if obese one could donate. That's not a factor to rule out donation. Now high blood pressure could rule someone out, as could low blood pressure. Athletes however routinely have low blood pressure due to a more efficient heart, and hence could donate.

Seasonally there is a high incidence rate of viral and bacterial infections. So those periods are times when people often decline to donate as one can be exposed to contagion and be symptom-free. Of course that exacerbates supply issues.

Artifical blood would eliminate many issues with blood donation. It would be a tremendous advance, but realistically things never work out as well as hoped for. It actually might result in monopolies on the blood supply for example. It could however greatly help sourcing rare blood types.

[G-Megas-Doux]

Well I would still prefer to be in better health personally and be a little more robust then I am now. Whilst something is better than nothing I would prefer to give a better quality donation and to be able to feel confident in my own health afterwards.