A team of scientists from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in the US, has developed methods to increase the production of red blood cells from stem cells, a discovery that could dramatically boost the blood supply available for transfusions.
In the latest issue of Stem Cells Translational Medicine, researchers Eric Bouhassira, Emmanuel Oliver, and Caihong Qiu published data on a promising new method of growing red blood cells in the lab. Using human stem cells from sources such as cord blood and circulating blood as well as embryonic stem cells, they produced a much higher yield of red blood cells than has previously been possible. “We combined different cell expansion protocols into a ‘cocktail’ that increased the number of cells we could produce by 10 to 100-fold,” Eric Bouhassira said. He added: “The ability of scientists to grow large quantities of red blood cells at an industrial scale could revolutionise the field of transfusion medicine. 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.”
