Study links giving blood to lower risk of pre-cancer gene

A study has suggested that people who give blood regularly are more likely to have genetic changes in their blood that could cut the risk of cancer developing, reported BBC.

According to the researchers from the Francis Crick Institute, the findings are "fascinating" and could help understanding of how and why blood cancers develop.

The researchers’ study compared the blood of two groups of healthy male donors in their 60s - the first had given blood three times a year for 40 years, the other only about five times in total.

In more of the frequent-donor group, subtle genetic differences not linked to a high risk of blood cancer were present, however, because healthier people tend to give blood, this skews the picture.

The cells in the body - including the blood - naturally develop mutations with age, which increases the risk of diseases such as cancer developing.

Stem cells in the bone marrow make new blood cells to replace the lost blood when people donate blood and this could shape the stem cells' genetic diversity.

A similar level of natural genetic mutations in the blood of the two groups - 217 frequent and 212 irregular donors, were found by the researchers.

However, the type of mutation in stem cells was subtly different in:

• 50% of the frequent donors.
• 30% of the irregular donors.

This mutation, when analysed in the lab, grew in a different way in different environments to other mutations linked to diseases such as leukaemia, a type of blood cancer.

"It's a type of mutation that is not associated with high risk of leukaemia development," study author Dr Hector Huerga Encabo said.

And when mice were injected with these human blood stem cells in the lab, the cells were found to be good at making red blood cells - a positive sign, Dr Encabo added.