For the first time in history, scientists have successfully changed the blood type of a human kidney, making it suitable for any patient in need of a transplant. This breakthrough could solve one of the biggest problems in organ donation, finding a match based on blood type.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada used special enzymes (types of proteins) to remove the blood type markers from a donated kidney. These markers are sugars that sit on the surface of cells and determine whether a person has blood type A, B, AB, or O. By removing the markers that make it type A, the scientists turned the kidney into type O, the universal blood type.

Type O organs can be used for anyone, regardless of their own blood type. This means many more people could receive life-saving transplants without waiting for a perfect match. The enzymes were discovered in 2019 by Dr. Stephen Withers and Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu at UBC.

They act like tiny scissors that cut away the blood type markers. The team tested the technique on a human kidney by transplanting it into a brain-dead patient (with family permission) to observe how the body reacted. For two days, the kidney worked normally with no strong immune attack. On the third day, a mild reaction was noticed, but researchers say the body seemed to start accepting the organ.

This discovery is especially important for people with type O blood, who make up more than half of those waiting for kidney transplants around the world. Because their immune systems only accept type O organs, they often wait much longer for a transplant and are at higher risk of dying before getting one.

Changing organs to type O could save thousands of lives by increasing the number of usable kidneys. The project was a global effort involving scientists from UBC, West China Hospital in Chengdu, and Avivo Biomedical, a biotech company in Vancouver. Clinical trials will be the next step.

“This is the moment when years of hard work in the lab can start helping real patients,” said Dr. Withers. “If we can make every donor organ universal, we could change transplant medicine forever.”