Artificial Blood, a Nobel-Worthy Invention?

A team of Romanian researchers has made a breakthrough that may change the medical world forever.

Corina Cristea, 20.12.2013, 14:16

Specialists see the discovery as worthy of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, but fear that its under-financing in Romania might endanger its future. Romanian researchers have developed a unique artificial blood formula that has been successfully tested in animals. But what does “artificial blood” really mean?

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu, the leader of the team of researchers, has been working on the formula since 2007: “I think the correct term to use is “temporary blood substitute”. It’s meant for emergency cases, for patients who’ve lost great amounts of blood. The first treatment is to introduce the blood substitute into their circulatory system, allowing the heart to keep pumping oxygen to tissues. It’s not a fully blood substitute. Blood has many functions. It controls the immune systems and transports various molecules. We only want a liquid able to transport oxygen in our system for a short period of time, until the patient recovers or until blood from human donors gets there”.

The novelty of this new invention is that the substance carries oxygen the way blood does. It is completely sterile and can be produced in unlimited quantities, considering that it is made in the lab, Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu explained. For the first time in the history of medicine researchers used hemerythrin, an iron protein extracted from marine worms, just like hemoglobin in our blood, although far more resistant to stressors.

Whereas at first researchers employed the blood of marine worms as such, more recently the protein is cultivated with the help of genetically-modified bacteria obtained in the lab.

The artificial blood contains water, salt and albumin, another protein used to protect the mix against stress agents, Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu went on to say: “For the past several decades the world has been trying to solve the problem of artificial blood, namely to produce artificial blood. I happened to be part of a team of English researchers working on this project. Before that I was part of a team in the United States, where I came across certain tools, some molecules that had nothing to do with blood. By integrating the two experiences I came up with a different substance, so when I came back to Cluj I tried to put it to use, and was lucky that my former colleagues in the US and England were willing to support us in our attempt to come up with a new direction, right here in Cluj”.

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu was keen on specifying that his product should not remain in the system more than two days, as it is not meant as a permanent blood replacement. “Our target is to ensure survival under shock, in surgery. Our substance allows the system to work for a couple of hours, until it regenerates its own blood with its other functions,” Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu said.

For the time being, artificial blood made in Romania has been successfully tested in lab animals and did not generate any side effects. The team of researchers says it will take an estimated 5 years before artificial blood may be used in transfusion centers and other medical units.

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu: “It would take us another year or two of experiments on cell cultures and animals before we can be certain we’ve ruled out all doubt regarding possible side effects in the materials we work with. I can say that, based on the experience of other groups of researchers who have carried out tests in human subjects, it would take at least two or three years before we can get our product certified for hospital use”.

Several companies have previously tried to produce artificial blood, some even with support from the US Army. However, most have failed, as their product did not pass clinical trials.

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu is confident that this type of blood substitute can be produced in Romania: “Of course it can. We have the financial resources and technical know-how. Cluj and other cities in Romania have enough researchers, investors and resources to see the project through at local level. In the end it doesn’t matter where it’s made, but I do believe we can produce it as well”.

Romanian researchers hope to perform successful trials in humans over the next few years. Moreover, the team plans on ensuring a production cost way below the level estimated by British researches for processing human blood for transfusion, which is 1,000 pounds per liter of blood.