Canadian scientists transform human skin into blood

Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada have been able to transform human skin into blood without first changing it into an induced pluripotent stem cell.

The transformation was achieved by extracting fibroblasts from a small piece of skin. Growth factors were added into a petri dish that contained the extracted fibroblasts. Next, a protein that binds to DNA was added to the petri dish, which resulted in the turning on or off of ~2,000 genes so the skin cells can differentiate into blood progenitors. Blood progenitors are the cells that produce blood. By further altering the environment of the cells, they were able to generate multiple different blood-cell types.

One of the primary beneficiaries includes patients with leukemia. Unlike the stem cells from a donors bone marrow, the patients skin cells don't have any genetic abnormalities. This will result in a higher ability of the patients body to utilize the cells without rejecting them.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy may also benefit from the procedure. Since treatment often has to be stopped due to heavy doses of chemotherapy which kills the blood system, this breakthrough will allow for continual chemotherapy treatment while the patient has an alternative source of blood.

This is a really interesting article because of the potential the research offers. By generating red blood cells in large quantities, blood transfusions can aid patients with severe blood loss. Also, since the generated blood can be frozen and stored, the availability of blood for patient care can be abundant.

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Canadian+scientists+transform+human+skin+into+blood/3791337/story.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature09591.html