Name: This breakthrough makes everyone a universal donor
Uploaded: 2025-11-04T09:09:44.373Z
Duration: 4 min 11 s
Description: Right now, thousands of people are waiting for organ transplants. Thanks to a groundbreaking new technique that can convert organs to the universal donor blood type, experts say wait times could drop dramatically. But as CBC science communicator Darius Mahdavi reports, more research needs to be done first.

Right now, thousands of people are waiting for organ transplants. Thanks to a groundbreaking new technique that can convert organs to the universal donor blood type, experts say wait times could drop dramatically. But as CBC science communicator Darius Mahdavi reports, more research needs to be done first.

Vancouver

A new scientific breakthrough in Canada has enabled researchers to convert organs to the universal donor blood type, type O, and successfully transplant them into human subjects. This development could significantly reduce wait times for organ transplants, especially for type O patients, who currently face the longest waits due to compatibility restrictions.

The technique involves using special enzymes to remove A and B markers from donor organs, making them suitable for any recipient. While the method is not yet available in hospitals, early studies suggest it could allow more organs to be used and improve transplant outcomes by temporarily eliminating blood type incompatibility.

This breakthrough makes everyone a universal donor

Right now, thousands of people are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. In Canada, how long you wait depends on two things, how urgent your case is and how easy it is to find a match. Which seems like an easy, fair system, right? The O blood type suffers the most because that's the largest population in the waitlist. So they wait about three times longer. If you, like me, are type O, that might be concerning. And it does have real consequences. In 2024, 219 Canadians died waiting for an organ transplant, with the highest death rate among type O people. This is why researchers are so excited about a recent breakthrough. See, a new paper describes how scientists converted an organ to the universal donor blood type and transplanted it into a human subject. This could be huge. Because one of the most important factors in finding a match is blood type. If you've ever donated blood, you probably know yours. A, B, AB, or O. And you may have heard type O called the universal donor. They can give blood to anyone, but they can only get type O blood themselves. Well, all of that also applies to organ transplants. And to understand why, we have to zoom in. Weigh in. See, some of our cells have these special markers on their surface. If you have type O blood, you only have the basic version, no bells or whistles. If you're any other blood type, you still make that same backbone, but your cells stick an extra sugar on the end. And that tiny difference is why you can't give type A blood to someone who's type O or type B. Their immune system sees the different sugar and freaks out. Do it with an organ, and it almost never works out. You get what's called hyperacute rejection. It's a very rapid failure of the organ that's caused by inflammation and blood clots that end up forming in the organ. And you basically lose the organ in a matter of a few hours or a day. This brings us back to why some people spend so much longer on the wait list. Imagine there are three people on the heart transplant list who will all match for the same donors. Alice, who's type A, Otto, who's type O, and Adam, who's type A. First, a type O heart becomes available. Alice is first on the list, so she gets it. But the next heart that comes up is type A. So even though Otto is next in line, it has to go to Adam. And that's how us type O folks end up waiting longer. But if we could convert all organs to type O, boom, problem solved. Just like you're taking the layer of paint off of your car surface and exposing underneath the O type antigen. Here's how it works. First, the organ is harvested and preserved in a special machine that runs fluid through it. This is standard practice for any organ transplant from a deceased donor. But what's different is that special enzymes that Withers and his team discovered are added to the fluid. These enzymes move through the organ, chopping off the A and B markers. And voila, you now have a type O organ ready for transplant. And if this went mainstream, it would be good news for everyone. By removing the ABO requirement, in essence, we increase the probability of a good match so can use a larger percentage of the organs that are out there. But you're not going to see it in your local hospital just yet. See this technique was first developed for blood transfusions. That's a lot easier because once you tweak the markers on red blood cells, they can't make new ones. Organs are trickier. Their cells still have all the DNA and machinery they need to make new A and B markers. But the study suggests that process may take a couple days, allowing surgeons to avoid that dreaded hyperacute rejection. And researchers say that alone means this could be a huge step for transplant science. Darius Madavi, CBC News, Vancouver.

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