Making blood

[Marlene]

Interesting article on making blood from skin cells.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101107202144.htm

[squirrellypoo]

Wow that's really cool! Thanks for posting. Having blood made from your own cells would cut down on the antibody and rejection issues that those of us who've had lots of transfusions face.

[riccd2001]

A couple of general comments from local media reports...

Time frame of about 2 years to trail phase;

Approximately 12 square centimetres for one unit of blood;

Ability of sustaining timely growth rates; and

storage/freezing possibilities.

[Lbrown]

If they can produce blood from skin, then why can't they get your marrow to produce the cells? But I agree it would be great for people who are transfusion dependent to get their own cells.

Deb

[Marlene]

I know what you mean.....Why can't they take a few of your own blood stem cells and grow them....set up your own blood stem cell farm to be harvested as needed.

[Lisa V]

That opens exciting possibilities, Marlene, but their conclusion that it could make MUD BMTs a thing of the past seems like quite a leap. How would making blood from skin cells help that? They can already to autologous transplants, but I've never heard of one being done for AA or MDS.

[Marlene]

Me neither....with AA, there's just not enough to harvest. I know NIH was doing a clinical trial to harvest cells of AA'er who were in remission with normal counts. You could then do an autologous BMT if they relapsed.

Having a supply of John's stem cells on hand back in 2002 would have been helpful in recovering faster from the HiCY treatment. That's the biggest risk with hicy....the length of time it takes for your BM to start producing enough stems to get you out of the danger zone.

Unfortunately, we see so many promising discoveries that go no where.

[cathybee1]

I was struck by the 12 square centimeters to 1 unit of blood. That's a lot of skin!