Holstein-Friesian RBC As Human Blood Substitute

α-Gal, the main xenotransplantation antigen, can lead to hyperacute rejection (HAR) in xenotransplantation. This study was purposed to investigate the effect of recombinant α-galactosidase (α-Gal antigen) on the Holstein-Friesian(H-F) red blood cells (RBC). The enzymelysis method was used to digest the α-Gal antigen on H-F RBC; the saline and anti-human globulin methods were used to perform the agglutination test of H-F RBC and human plasma; the flow cytometry was used to detect the α-Gal antigen on surface of H-F RBC, fluorescence intensity of FITC-IB4 and FITC-IgG labeled RBC. The results indicated that the saline and anti-human globulin method showed α-galactosidase-treated H-F RBC fail to agglutinate with human pooled plasma; the flow cytometry showed the fluorescence intensity of FITC-IB4 and FITC-IgG labeled RBC decrease 99.0% and 87.8%, respectively. It is concluded that the novel α-galactosidase can be used to cleared the α-Gal antigen on the surface of H-F RBC and α-galactosidase-treated H-F RBC may be considered as human blood substitute.