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Young blood transfusion refers to the transferal of blood taken from a young person into an older person with the intention of having a medicinal effect beyond that of a normal blood transfusion.
There is no good evidence that "young blood" has any medicinal effect in people and all blood transfusions have risks, including blood-borne diseases. As of of 2017 evidence from two large studies showed that transfusion of blood from younger donors was either no different from, or led to worse outcomes than, blood from older donors. Research on blood transfusion outcomes has been complicated by the lack of careful characterization of the transfusion products that have been used in clinical trials; research had focused on how storage methods and duration might affect blood, but not on the differences among lots of blood themselves.
Neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray leads a team of researchers at Stanford University investigating the use of young blood transfusions in mice. A study published by them in 2014 detailed the results of several tests including parabiosis in mice; as part of their investigations they sutured two mice of different ages together, with both animals sharing a circulatory system. A company called Alkahest was spun out of the university's research in rodents; the company is collaborating with Grifols to create a blood plasma-based experimental biologic drug, which they propose to test in people with Alzheimer's.
Ambrosia is a company that sells what it calls "young blood transfusions" for $8,000 under the guise of running a clinical trial to see if such transfusions lead to changes in the blood of recipients. Jeff Bercovici wrote in Inc. that "life-extension science is a popular obsession" in Silicon Valley and that regenerative medicine was a fad which started in the 2000s. Bercovici states that there are rumours of wealthy technology bosses "spending tens of thousands of dollars for the procedures and young-person-blood". Technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel, is a prominent investor in Ambrosia.
News media have widely reported such practices using hyperbole, making hugely-exaggerated claims likening the procedure to the Fountain of Youth and the elixir of life. Others have related it to stories of vampires.
References
- ^ Novella, Steven (3 August 2016). "Parabiosis – The Next Snakeoil". Science-Based Medicine.
- Garraud, O (August 2017). "Younger blood from older donors: Admitting ignorance and seeking stronger data and clinical trials?". Transfusion and apheresis science : official journal of the World Apheresis Association : official journal of the European Society for Haemapheresis. 56 (4): 635–636. doi:10.1016/j.transci.2017.07.002. PMID 28780993.
- Ning, S; Heddle, NM; Acker, JP (January 2018). "Exploring donor and product factors and their impact on red cell post-transfusion outcomes". Transfusion medicine reviews. 32 (1): 28–35. doi:10.1016/j.tmrv.2017.07.006. PMID 28988603.
- ^ "Can young blood really rejuvenate the old?". The Economist. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
- ^ de Magalhães, JP; Stevens, M; Thornton, D (November 2017). "The Business of Anti-Aging Science". Trends in biotechnology. 35 (11): 1062–1073. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.07.004. PMID 28778607.
- Drew, L (27 September 2017). "Neuroscience: The power of plasma". Nature. 549 (7673): S26 – S27. doi:10.1038/549S26a. PMID 28953857.
- Bercovici, Jeff (1 August 2016). "Peter Thiel Is Very, Very Interested In Young People's Blood". Inc.
- Maxmen, Amy (13 January 2017). "Questionable "Young Blood" Transfusions Offered in U.S. as Anti-Aging Remedy". MIT Technology Review.
- Makin, Simon (21 April 2017). "Fountain of Youth? Young Blood Infusions "Rejuvenate" Old Mice". Scientific American. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- "Young Blood Transfusions - The Elixir Of Youth?". Medium. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
- "The vampire molecule: scientists discover why young blood helps reverse aging". CBC Radio. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.