Our suggestion
is to put the protein hemoglobin within the envelope of a virus.
The protein coating of the virus would most likely prevent the hemoglobin
from breaking down.The first step in the process would be to decode the
hemoglobin gene code found in the DNA of cells. Next one would need
to do some gene therapy inspired work and introduce that DNA code and introduce
that DNA code into the viral gene structure.
If the final viral product had an active protein shell, it would enter body cells within the human body. There are several possibilities when dealing with this problem. One method is direct modification of the viral genetic code to produce disfunctional cell binding sites on the final shell. Another idea is to impair the viral agents after they are harvested. Perhaps in a way resembling some vaccination preparation processes where the viral agents are rendered inactive. Lastly one could use a base virus that is very host specific toward hosts that are not humans. In order to create the huge quantity of viruses a preliminary strain of viruses would need to have functional cell binding sites, to infect hosts and reproduce, but the final product would need to have these binding sites disabled. Once a cell population is infected by this new viral strain, the cells will produce a new population of viruses carrying the actual hemoglobin protein inside them. With enough of these viruses dissolved this solution would carry enough oxygen to supply the body.
(Above: Millions of these coated hemoglobins will be
dissolved in our final product.)
The benefit of
this process is that the oxygen carrying mechanism is very natural in that
it is the same molecule. We are confident that this product would
also last much longer in the body than the already developed products.
This process encounters some difficulties in a few areas. The first
area of foreseen difficulty is in getting the actual hemoglobin protein
in to the final virus carrier. We believe that with some clever genetic
manipulation one could "program" the hemoglobin to be placed temporarily
into the viral coat as its being assembled.
The second possible concern is an immune system response to the modified
virus. The immune system has evolved for thousands of years to detect
and fight viruses so the natural immune response could be significant.
We believe this problem could be circumvented by the use of a coated virus,
with surrounds itself with the outer membrane of the last cell it invaded.
We believe that if these concerns can be over come by scientists, this
modified virus method would be an excellent way to prepare artificial blood.
(Important note: this graphic depicts normal viral action, not our suggested viral coated hemoglobin)
