Scientists from China and Canada have successfully transplanted a human kidney after the organ’s blood type was converted from type A to the universal type O using special enzymes for the first time.
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After being transplanted into a recipient who had been diagnosed with brain death, the enzyme-converted kidney functioned for at least two days without signs of hyperacute rejection.
This conversion could overcome the barrier of having to match donor and recipient blood type for transplants, which could help shorten waiting list times as the world grapples with organ shortages.
“The shortage of donated organs for transplantation has resulted in lengthy waiting lists and consequent deaths,” the team wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Biomedical Engineering on October 3.
“Even when organs are available, substantial challenges exist with the equality of organ allocation,” said the team, which was led by researchers from the University of British Columbia and West China Hospital of Sichuan University.
Japanese immunologist wins 2025 Nobel Prize
Japanese immunologist wins 2025 Nobel Prize
“While transplantation of engineered animal organs offers some hope for the future, this remains many years away from general practice owing to the recent failure of engineered pig hearts and kidneys in humans, meaning that more efficient use of the available human organ pool is needed.”