Blood substitutes based on nanobiotechnology

Abstract

Stimulated by concerns of potential infective agents in donated blood, since the 1900s, there have been considerable commercial attempts to develop blood substitutes. After many years of development a few of the many leads have shown promise. This review article describes promising nanobiotechnological approaches that are now in Phase III clinical trials. This is followed by a discussion of how important basic knowledge gained is now being used to develop new generations of blood substitutes based on nanobiotechnology. INTRODUCTION:

In vitro clinical‐grade generation of red blood cells from human umbilical cord blood CD34+ cells

“…Several RBC growth factors have been developed to treat anemia but none of them have been proven to be an entirely effective alternative to RBC transfusion. 1 Therefore, in vitro generation of RBCs from hematopoietic stem cells of umbilical cord blood (CB) could be a promising new solution to the shortage of safe blood for transfusion.…”

PolySOD-catalase as a therapeutic agent with antioxidant properties

“…In vitro it may not be necessary to have SOD and catalase cross-linked, since the process is unlikely to be diffusionlimited in a test tube. In vivo, however, it would be quite beneficial to have them linked before administration to preserve the efficacy of the ROS scavenging (D'agnillo & Chang, 1998;Chang, 2006).…”

Synthesis of a hemoglobin-conjugated triblock copolymer for oxygen carrying and specific recognition of cancer cells

“…Compared with oxygen-loaded polymer bubbles and oxygen generator-loaded nanocarriers, hemoglobin-based oxygen nanocarriers are more controllable, stable, safe and biocompatible without inorganics, such as MnO 2 and H 2 O 2 , and have been demonstrated as promising articial oxygen nanocarriers in recent studies. [16][17][18] Hemoglobin (Hb) has the capacity to reversibly bind to four oxygen molecules. Free Hb exhibits negative effects, such as low circulation time and low stability, and consequently is unt to be an oxygen carrier directly.…”