A new technology should improve the monitoring of blood stored for transfusion, it has been announced.
The FlowScore algorithm, developed at the University of Oxford, uses flow cytometry metrics to quantify the ability of red blood cells to release oxygen. It does this by examining the pattern of scattering of light, which gives information about the size and shape of the cells, the researchers say.
The findings have been published in the journal eBioMedicine.
The developers say it will make measurements of red cell oxygen release “simpler, faster and more accessible” and will help improve the effectiveness of blood banking. They also expect there will be other research applications in the study of red blood cells.
The robustness of FlowScore has been tested in blood banks in Australia, Canada, England and Spain. The researchers say the method predicted storage-related attrition in the cells’ ability to transport oxygen, with sensitivity and specificity of more than 80%.
Professor Pawel Swietach, Professor of Physiology at Oxford University, said: “We find that FlowScore is a robust surrogate of oxygen-handling by red cells and provides new and important information on oxygen transport by the blood.
“Aside from its applications in transfusion medicine and blood banking, FlowScore can help identify new genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors that influence oxygen delivery to tissues.”
Dr Peter Smethurst, from the NHSBT Blood and Transplant Component Development Laboratory, said: “FlowScore could become quite fundamental to the way blood is tested to ensure its quality. It is a technical breakthrough that should improve the monitoring of stored blood and drive improvements that will most benefit vulnerable recipients of red cell transfusions.”
Source:
Rabcuka J, Smethurst PA, Dammert K, Saker J, Aran G, Walsh GM, Tan JCG, Codinach M, McTaggart K, Marks DC, Bakker SJL, McMahon A, Di Angelantonio E, Roberts DJ, Blonski S, Korczyk PM, Shirakami A, Cardigan R, Swietach P. (2024) “Assessing the kinetics of oxygen-unloading from red cells using FlowScore, a flow-cytometric proxy of the functional quality of blood.” eBioMedicine, 13 December 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105498
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(24)00534-6/fulltext
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