Precision transfusion medicine: a new spin

In this issue of Blood, An et al1 describe a new method to generate rare red blood cell (RBC) reagents for antibody screening in the pre-transfusion laboratory work up to identify antibodies against low prevalence variants of RH antigens. Using a combination of human induced pluripotent stemcell (iPSC) reprogramming and gene editing, the authors have engineered RBCs lacking the RH locus and expressing low-prevalence antigenic variants. Rh-engineered RBCs are compatible with standard laboratory assays and can detect the presence of plasma alloantibodies against low-prevalence allelic variants.

Automated summary

In this study, An et al. introduced a new method to generate rare red blood cell (RBC) reagents for antibody screening. By using a combination of human induced pluripotent stemcell (iPSC) reprogramming and gene editing, the authors engineered RBCs lacking the RH locus and expressing low-prevalence antigenic variants. These Rh-engineered RBCs are compatible with standard laboratory assays and can detect the presence of plasma alloantibodies against low-prevalence allelic variants.