Changing the impossible: Try on a new blood type for size
Red blood cells, E.M.Unit, Royal Free Hospital
On a given Friday night, in bars across North America, there are many initial conversations regarding astrological signs as people try to assess each other’s personalities in a fun, light-hearted way. In Asia, it’s the same except they’ll ask you about your blood type. There is a light-hearted belief in Asia that different blood types give rise to different personalities, otherwise known as the blood type theory of personality. For instance, an O personality type might be more gregarious, an A type more earnest, a B type more wild, and an AB more rational.
So what if you could change your blood type to match a potential mate? Seem impossible?
It was unfathomable to scientists and transplant surgeons around the world until two weeks ago.
In the first case of its kind, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (see link below), a transplant patient experienced a complete change of blood type to that of her donor. More astonishing was the fact that her immune system was totally replaced and also became that of the donor — in effect, mimicking a spontaneous bone marrow transplant. Noticed nine months after the transplant, this remarkable change has shocked the medical world, with some hailing this case as the holy grail of transplants.
The most critical problem with transplant surgery is organ rejection as the patient’s immune system rejects that of the donor and consequently most patients must take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their life or undergo a bone marrow transplant. However, this patient required no immunosuppression and has no other side effects from the transplant except that her immune system is like a baby again, forcing her to be re-immunized all over again.
The explanation thus far is that her immune system has switched over to that of the donor after stem cells from the new liver migrated to her bone marrow.
“It is extremely unusual — in fact we don’t know of any other instance in which this happened,” Dr. M. Stormon, her hepatologist, told AFP from the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Australia.
Researchers are scrambling to understand this new phenomenon and its implications and more importantly are trying to replicate it for other transplant patients.
No word yet on whether her personality has changed…
Watch the video interviews of the patient and her clinicians regarding this case: Australian doctors hail teen’s transplant miracle
For more in-depth information, read the New England Journal of Medicine, “Chimerism and tolerance in a recipient of a deceased-donor liver transplant”
Lincoln Kim is a member of the healthcare and life sciences team of the MaRS Venture Group. He evaluates and supports the development of technology platforms and commercial market opportunities of start up and emerging companies, facilitates collaboration among research groups and between research scientists and industry.