Artificial blood made from stem cells could be used in transfusions in just two years
Artificial blood created from stem cells could be tested on Britons within two years.
The scientists behind the research, which could provide industrial scale quantities of blood, believe it will transform transfusions by preventing hospital shortages, and save thousands of lives on battlefields and at the scene of car crashes.
Heart transplant, bypass and cancer patients would also benefit from having a guaranteed supply of blood on hand for their surgery.
The ‘holy grail’ of blood research, the man-made blood would be free of infections that have blighted natural supplies and could be given to almost everyone regardless of blood group.
The hope comes from Edinburgh and Bristol university researchers who have, for the first time, made thousands of millions of red blood cells from stem cells – ‘master cells’ seen as a repair kit for the body – taken from bone marrow. But with the average blood transfusion containing 2.5million million red blood cells, this is not enough.
Cells taken from human embryos in the first days of life are easier to multiply in large numbers, but the researchers have so far not managed to make such realistic blood.
If they crack the recipe, just one embryo could theoretically provide all the cells ever needed for Britain’s blood supply.
Edinburgh University’s Professor Marc Turner hopes to make a supply of cells with the O-negative blood type. This ‘universal donor’ blood could be given to up to 98 per cent of the population.
A supply of safe blood would also be a boon in developing countries, where thousands of lives are lost to conditions such as haemorrhages after childbirth. Mr Turner predicts that in two to three years, he will be ready to inject a teaspoon of man-made blood into healthy volunteers, in the first British trial of blood from stem cells.