INSIDE RADY CHILDREN’S
RESEARCH
The Search for a Better Blood Donation
Rady Children’s and the San Diego Blood Bank embark on Precision Blood™ matching trial
For children with conditions like thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, blood transfusions become part of life. A single patient can require hundreds of units
then the red blood cells break down and can cause damage to the kidneys, and, also, the transfusion won’t work because the cells are destroyed,” Dr. Thornburg says.
of blood over their lifetime, with transfusions necessary as often as every two to four weeks. Though the risk for complications following a transfusion is fairly low, the more transfusions a patient receives, the higher the risk becomes. There’s more to a successful blood transfusion than just matching blood types, says Courtney Thornburg, MD, Medical Director of the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Treatment Center at Rady Children’s and director of its Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Program. The surface of each red blood cell contains hundreds of proteins, some of which, if different from those of the recipient’s, may trigger an immune system response, called alloimmunization, that destroys the freshly transfused cells. Roughly 20 percent of people with thalassemia or
A protein incompatibility not only complicates the matching process; it łØķăŰĤŹĠØŬûăŬŹŎƱŅûòĺŎŎûĤŅŹĠă future. To combat this, Rady Children’s and the San Diego Blood Bank are looking into whether new genetic technology can better match patients and blood donations. In 2024, Rady Children’s and the San Diego Blood Bank will launch a clinical trial of the blood bank’s Precision ĺŎŎûΎ̀ ĤŅĤŹĤØŹĤƔă̐ ƕĠĤõĠØĤłŰŹŎłØŹõĠ patients and donor blood based on compatibility factors involving 30 blood groups and more than 300 antigens. The ŬăõĤŰĤŎŅ ĺŎŎûΎ̀ ĤŅĤŹĤØŹĤƔăƀŰăŰŅăƚŹ̪ generation sequencing to analyze the proteins on red blood cells and identify
A PROTEIN INCOMPATIBILITY NOT ONLY COMPLICATES THE MATCHING PROCESS; IT MAKES IT HARDER TO FIND BLOOD IN THE FUTURE.
the best available blood at that time. The clinical trial and recent expansion ŎėŹĠăŬăõĤŰĤŎŅ ĺŎŎûΎ̀ ŨŬŎõăŰŰĤŅę capabilities are made possible by grants from the Cushman Foundation and the David C. Copley Foundation. “We want people to know that the thought of advanced medical research happening in the future is actually happening now with Precision Blood™,” says Nikhil
sickle cell anemia who undergo regular transfusions will experience alloimmunization at some point in their lives.
“If this happens with transfusion, then there can be potentially life-threatening complications because
30 HEALTHY KIDS MAGAZINE WINTER 2024
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