Blood from Skin

[The Spartan]

Of all the things to stumble across at work...

NOVEMBER 22, 2010
Scientists turn skin into blood

In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin.

The discovery, published in the prestigious science journal Nature today, could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions. Clinical trials could begin as soon as 2012.

Mick Bhatia, scientific director of McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and his team of researchers have also shown that the conversion is direct. Making blood from skin does not require the middle step of changing a skin stem cell into a pluripotent stem cell that could make many other types of human cells, then turning it into a blood stem cell.

"We have shown this works using human skin. We know how it works and believe we can even improve on the process," said Bhatia. "We'll now go on to work on developing other types of human cell types from skin, as we already have encouraging evidence."

The discovery was replicated several times over two years using human skin from both young and old people to prove it works for any age of person.

This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, the Stem Cell Network and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.

John Kelton, hematologist and dean and vice-president of health sciences for McMaster University said: “I find this discovery personally gratifying for professional reasons.

"During my 30 years as a practicing blood specialist, my colleagues and I have been pleased to help care for cancer patients whose lives were saved by bone marrow transplants. For all physicians, but especially for the patients and their families, the illness became more frustrating when we were prevented from giving a bone marrow transplant because we could not find a perfect donor match in the family or the community.

"Dr. Bhatia's discovery could permit us to help this important group of patients."

I just happened to spot this headline on ASM's website when I was looking up information on erosion and I just had to share. It's particularly interesting to me given that I have a family history of cancer, including at least one cousin who survived leukemia.

[PainRack]

Where's the link between a bone marrow transplant and this?

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Where's the link between a bone marrow transplant and this?

Simple. The bone marrow is where a body's blood stem cells usually reside. In a bone marrow transplant, you wipe out the body's native blood stem cells, and replace them with somebody else's (which is why a perfect match is critical in these cases.) If you have the ability to readily turn someone's own skin cells into blood stem cells and blood cells, you don't need to go through the process of implanting someone else's blood-making cells into them.

[mr friendly guy]

Presumably they must be able to turn skin cells into the precursor cell of most blood cells.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

If this can be used to generate blood and other cells with no risk of rejection, well, that boggles my mind with the benefits this <i>could</i> achieve. I really hope it pans out. It's too late for my cousin's first-born daughter who died of leukemia before her second birthday, all because they couldn't get a donor match.

[mr friendly guy]

If this can be used to generate blood and other cells with no risk of rejection, well, that boggles my mind with the benefits this <i>could</i> achieve. I really hope it pans out. It's too late for my cousin's first-born daughter who died of leukemia before her second birthday, all because they couldn't get a donor match.

It may still be a problem down the track, since we either a) don't know the exact genetic basis why someone like her developed leukaemia, or b) even if we did, can we correct it in the "blood from skin product", so we run the risk of the leukemia developing again.

[Molyneux]

Isn't it possible to also continually grow skin from a donation, at least theoretically?
This could have an interesting effect on the need for blood donations in the future.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

If this can be used to generate blood and other cells with no risk of rejection, well, that boggles my mind with the benefits this <i>could</i> achieve. I really hope it pans out. It's too late for my cousin's first-born daughter who died of leukemia before her second birthday, all because they couldn't get a donor match.

It may still be a problem down the track, since we either a) don't know the exact genetic basis why someone like her developed leukaemia, or b) even if we did, can we correct it in the "blood from skin product", so we run the risk of the leukemia developing again.

Yes, quite. The last few decades are filled with broken hope when promising new cancer treatments failed to pan out after initially optimistic results were observed in the labs. But we keep trying. If this research can even buy more time for such patients, that would be something.