In artificial blood research, Japan is already pulling ahead. As of today, clinical trials are underway investigating a new product that could be effective for all blood types. This novel strategy helps address the persistent blood supply crisis. It intends to save lives in areas with poor or low access to donor-derived blood.
Yet this new research into artificial blood isn’t Japan’s first foray into this exciting but dangerous field. In the past, progress in artificial blood has been met with significant hurdles — most notably with safety, stability and effective use in oxygen transport. But recent news shows that researchers may be closer than ever to making that breakthrough.
The Science Behind Artificial Blood
Artificial blood is mostly produced by taking the hemoglobin out of expired donor blood. While promising, this approach has required blood stored for more than 3 weeks. Additionally, it ensures that the hemoglobin is preserved for eventual extraction. Once extracted, we then encapsulate the hemoglobin within a lipid shell. This process includes quality control to ensure they have produced a product that is safe and ready for patient administration.
One of the most exciting things about this artificial blood is its universal compatibility with all blood types. This new product would dramatically ease the use of emergency transfusion. Compared to conventional blood transfusion, it requires no complex matching of donor and recipient blood types. While artificial blood can be stored for two years. This invention addresses one of the key constraints of classic blood repositories, which often suffer from acute lack due to short shelf life.
“The launch of a new clinical trial in Japan using artificial blood product derived from human hemoglobin marks a potentially exciting step forward in transfusion medicine. While this area has long held promise, previous efforts have faced significant challenges, particularly around safety, stability, and oxygen delivery efficacy. This trial will need to demonstrate not only that the artificial blood is safe in humans but that it can perform as reliably as donor blood under a range of clinical conditions. There are advantages with an artificial blood product as you will not have to worry about compatibility, and as it’s usually smaller, it can penetrate areas which are blocked, e.g., by a stroke or clot.” – Ash Toye
Current Trials and Future Prospects
In March, the researchers began giving the first doses of the synthetic blood to volunteers. This was an important step in their long-term research leading up to this point. A first-in-human trial conducted in 2022 showed promise with artificial hemoglobin vesicles, generating critical data that led to today’s clinical trials. Researchers want to find out if this synthetic blood can actually transport oxygen the way natural red blood cells do.
The unifying objective of these studies is to reduce the burden caused by blood shortages. In numerous medical environments globally, the limited pool of donor blood poses dire complications. This problem is most pronounced in small, financially distressed facilities, where the effects can be catastrophic. Researchers continue to focus their efforts on developing a viable, reproducible alternative that can be manufactured and calibrated in advance and stored over long time periods. Their intention is to reduce preventable deaths from lack of blood supply.
Challenges and Considerations
Despite the promising advancements, challenges remain. For comparison, researchers explain that this artificial blood product derives its hemoglobin from human donors. Yet, it is associated with identical infection hazards as conventional human blood. The risk for infection raises grave issues. We have to grapple with these aspects that harken back to immunological response before we can overcome these barriers to widespread adoption.
Furthermore, Sakai’s lab identified additional hurdles including “possibility of infection, blood type mismatching, immunological response, and short shelf life which is insufficient for stockpiling for emergency situations.” These issues which by no means are an exhaustive list underscore the complexity surrounding creating a safe, effective replacement for human blood.
