A couple of months ago researchers and scientists from the University of British Columbia and the Centre for Blood Research have published a study in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society. In it they say they were able to create an enzyme that made Type A and Type B blood more like Type O blood. This is important because Type O blood can be given to
any patient of any blood type.
"We produced a mutant enzyme that is very efficient at cutting off the sugars in A and B blood, and is much more proficient at removing the subtypes of the A-antigen that the parent enzyme struggles with," said David Kwan, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry.
To create this high-powered enzyme capable of snipping off sugars, researchers used a new technology called directed evolution that involves inserting mutations into the gene that codes for the enzyme, and selecting mutants that are more effective at cutting the antigens. In just five generations, the enzyme became 170 times more effective.
This direction in creating universal blood type via enzyme is not a new but, up until this study, the amount of enzyme needed to get rid of the antigens was so large it rendered the method impractical. This study will give a lot of confidence to scientists that an enzyme can be engineered that will rid the blood of all the necessary antigens.