Grant: Project Grant

Blood transfusion is a life-saving therapy used to treat a variety of medical conditions. In some situations, such as trauma or surgery, the transfused blood is only needed for a short period of time (less than two days). In other situations, such as for patients with certain hereditary diseases or patients undergoing certain chemotherapies, the transfused blood is needed for a long period of time (several weeks). For this second group of patients, it is important for the transfused blood to last as long as possible in order to reduce the need for repeated transfusions and the potential complications associated with blood transfusions. The longevity of transfused blood depends on the donor, but currently, there are no methods for predicting which donor can provide long-lasting blood. Our study will investigate the potential to estimate the longevity of donor blood from the deformability, or softness, of individual red blood cells. Red blood cells must traverse the entire circulatory system every minute. During this journey, they must be repeatedly deformed to transit through the microscopic capillaries in the body. The loss of red blood cell deformability is associated with the removal these cells from circulation. Therefore, red blood cell deformability is a likely predictor of donor blood longevity in transfusion recipients. If successful, our study can provide an approach to identify donors who can provide long-lasting blood. Blood from these donors could then be reserved for patients that could benefit from long-lasting blood in order to reduce the number of transfusions and transfusion-associated complications.