title: Tissue engineering red blood cells: a therapeutic.
abstract: The use of red blood cells (RBCs) in transfusion is widespread in modern medicine. Limitations in blood transfusion have made an urgent argument for the focus on alternatives, as particular medical treatments heavily rely on the supply of donated blood. Stem cells have been successfully used in vitro to produce RBCs and researchers are currently challenged with developing larger-scale culture methods to meet the requirements for clinically relevant cell numbers. The ultimate conditions that will be beneficial for this type of research are trivial. A successful human clinical trial has shown that tremendous progress has already been made in this field. Other alternatives are based on the oxygen carrier protein that RBCs contain, i.e. haemoglobin (Hb). Chemically defined molecules and crosslinked proteins, which are able to bind and transport oxygen, have been found to be functional in vivo. Major progress has been achieved, but developing highly suitable products for the transfusion market still remains an enormous challenge for these acellular blood substitutes. We provide a review about developing alternatives for blood transfusion, with the emphasis on tissue-engineering approaches.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Engineering, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Theun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Veen
authors.affiliation: Clinical Engineering, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001802:Blood Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004912:Erythrocytes; D006801:Humans; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001802:Blood Substitutes
keywords: bioreactor; blood transfusion; erythrocytes; haematopoietic stem cell; oxygen carriers