The shortage of donated organs is why the xenotransplant technique using pig organs was developed more than a decade ago. Its development has improved year by year with this technique being used to replace kidneys and lungs. But based on comments left by readers, many are unwilling to accept pig organs as a replacement due to religious objections.
Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Canada announced last October that they had successfully developed a universal kidney that can be donated to recipients with all blood types.
Previously, only kidneys from donors with blood type O could be accepted by everyone. Patients with blood type O could not receive kidneys from non-O organ donors. This raises the dilemma of who should receive the organ first.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia used an enzyme to convert a kidney from a blood A donor into blood O. The enzyme removed the sugar molecule, an antigen that makes it an A blood organ.
The universal kidney was then transplanted into a brain-dead patient and it functioned well for 2 days before returning to producing the A blood antigen. The side effects and organ rejection in the recipient's body were lower than transplanting an organ from an incompatible blood type. The body also showed signs of accepting the transplanted organ.
The University of British Columbia is now seeking approval to conduct clinical trials on living human patients. The study paper was published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
