A new medical breakthrough... a "universal kidney" that can be transplanted into any patient.

 

medical 

A new medical breakthrough... a "universal kidney" that can be transplanted into any patient.

In a scientific achievement that represents a major step toward revolutionizing the world of organ transplantation , a team of scientists in Canada and China has succeeded in developing what is known as the "universal kidney," a kidney that can be transplanted into any patient, regardless of their blood type.
According to the study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, this development opens the door to reducing long waiting periods for transplants and saving the lives of thousands of patients around the world.

Blood type conversion in the kidney

During the research, scientists were able to convert a kidney from blood type A to blood type O using special enzymes that remove the sugar molecules responsible for determining blood type, known as antigens.

Professor Stephen Withers, a professor of biochemistry at the University of British Columbia, likens this transformation to "removing the red paint from a car to reveal the neutral base layer, and then the immune system no longer recognizes the organ as a foreign body," according to a report published by the scientific platform ScienceAlert.

This technique, which took more than a decade to develop, was performed on a human kidney obtained from a donor with blood type A and then transplanted into a brain-dead patient with the family's consent. Surprisingly, the kidney functioned normally for several days without being immediately rejected, a scientific first.

O-type paradox

Blood type O is the most sought-after type for kidney transplants. People with blood type O can donate to all other blood types, but can only receive a kidney from their own type. This paradox forces patients with blood type O to wait longer, sometimes years.
In the United States alone, approximately 11 people die every day while waiting for a kidney transplant, more than half of whom are blood type O. Developing a "universal kidney" that can bypass this limitation is a crucial step.

How do enzymes work?

The team relies on previously discovered enzymes capable of "cutting" antigen chains on the outer surface of the kidney's blood vessels. Once these molecules are removed, the kidney is reclassified as type O, meaning it no longer bears any markers that would trigger the immune system to reject it.
This process is scientifically known as "enzymatic blood type conversion," and the study showed that the result was largely effective in the first days after transplantation, although some signs of type A began to appear again after the third day.

Challenges of the next stage

Despite this progress, scientists note that the experiment is still in its early stages and has not yet been tested on living patients. Signs of the original blood type gradually returning have emerged, triggering a mild immune response.

"However, the immune response was weaker than expected, indicating that the body is beginning to adapt to the modified organ," Withers says. "The next step will be to conduct limited clinical trials in humans after confirming the long-term safety of the technique, while studying how to stabilize the transformation and prevent the return of the original antigens."

Broader horizons

This discovery is not limited to the kidneys alone. Scientists believe the same technology could be applied to the liver, lungs, and perhaps the heart in the future, which could completely change the landscape of organ transplantation.

Researchers are also exploring the possibility of integrating this technology with experiments on genetically modified animal organ transplants, such as kidneys taken from pigs, to expand the scope of compatibility with humans.

“This is the moment when years of basic research meet real-world medical application,” says Professor Withers. “Seeing our discoveries move closer to saving patients’ lives is what drives us to continue.”
Experts believe this achievement could pave the way for a new era in regenerative medicine, where the concept of "blood type" becomes less of a major obstacle to organ transplantation. With the technology entering human trials, the dream of a "universal kidney" could soon become a reality, saving the lives of millions of kidney failure patients around the world.