Cutting down wait lists for organ transplants by pre-treatment of donor organs

器官移植的等待名单通常非常长，因为需要确定与需要移植的患者匹配良好的供体器官。这一匹配过程包括识别与患者自身组织具有相似外部标记（即抗原）的器官。在必须匹配的抗原中，有区分A型、B型和O型血的抗原。红细胞上的相关抗原实际上是非常简单的糖分子。A、B和O红细胞都有一个共同的糖亚结构，但A和B红细胞的不同之处在于每个红细胞都有一个附加的额外糖。申请人最近开发了一种用酶去除额外糖的方法，这样他们就可以将a型或B型红细胞转化为O型红细胞。他们目前正在测试这种研制出来的通用O型血的安全性。在这项提议中，将测试这些相同的酶从捐赠的人体器官表面去除这些抗原的能力，并彻底测试修饰器官的安全性和使用。如果成功的话，这将使A型和B型血的人的器官转化为O型血的器官。这将提高移植患者获得匹配器官的几率，从而提高患者的存活率。

Waitlists for organ transplants are often extremely lengthy due to the need to identify availabledonor organs that are a good match to the patient requiring the transplant. This process ofmatching involves identifying organs that have similar external markers known as antigens,to those on the patients own tissues. Amongst the antigens that have to be matched arethose that distinguish A, B and O type blood from each other. The relevant antigens on redblood cells are in fact very simple sugar molecules. A,B and O red blood cells all share acommon substructure of sugars, but A and B red blood cells differ in each having one extrasugar attached. The applicants have recently developed a way of removing that additionalsugar with enzymes so that they can convert A or B red blood cells to O type red blood cells.They are currently testing the safety of the Universal O type blood so developed. In thisproposal the ability of these same enzymes to remove these antigens from the surface ofdonated human organs will be tested and the safety and use of the modified organs will bethoroughly tested. If successful this would allow the organs from A and B blood typeindividuals to be converted into O type organs. This would improve the odds of transplantpatients obtaining matching organs, which would increase survival patient rates.