New Technique Could Increase Blood Supplies for Transfusions

Innovative methods to increase the production of red blood cells (RBCs) from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could dramatically boost the blood supply available for transfusions.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York, NY, USA) combined methods designed to amplify the stem, progenitor, and precursor compartments of the in vitro production of cultured RBCs to optimize yield. By exposing CD34+ cells to a short pulse of cytokines favorable for erythroid differentiation, prior to stem cell expansion, the resulting progenitor expansion produced the highest yield of erythroid cells.

The novel serum-free RBC production protocol was efficient on CD34+ cells derived from human embryonic stem cells, 6–8-week yolk sacs, 16–18-week fetal livers, cord blood, and peripheral blood. The yields of cells obtained with these new protocols were larger by an order of magnitude than the yields observed previously. Globin expression analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography revealed that these expansion protocols generally yielded red blood cells that expressed a globin profile similar to that expected for the developmental age of the CD34+ cells.

More than 1010 RBCs can now be produced using a single plate of hESCs. Combining all the known expansion methods might lead to an additional one to two orders of magnitude increase in the number of cells that can be produced from a single plate.

According to the researchers, the production of the CD34+ cells necessary to feed bioreactors capable of producing hundreds of units of RBCs per weeks could be done using relatively low numbers of pluripotent stem cells. The study was published in the July 2012 issue of Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

“The ability of scientists to grow large quantities of red blood cells at an industrial scale could revolutionize the field of transfusion medicine,” said lead author Eric Bouhassira, PhD. “Collecting blood through a donation-based system is serving us well but it is expensive, vulnerable to disruption and insufficient to meet the needs of some people who need ongoing transfusions. This could be a viable long-term alternative.”

Blood transfusions, developed more than 80 years ago, are essential component of many surgeries, trauma medicine, and blood cancer therapies, and are one of the primary treatments for people with sickle cell anemia and other blood diseases. However, the blood needed for such transfusions is obtained only through donations and can be in short supply, particularly for chronically transfused people who require rare blood groups. The methods described by the researchers can be used to produce blood with any blood groups.

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Albert Einstein College of Medicine