Overview: What Are Blood Types?
One of the most common experiments in biology class is for students to find their blood types from a drop of their own blood. However, there are many other factors that can be found in blood besides those that cause the ABO blood groups and the RH blood groups. Some of these rare types of blood are only found in a very few people around the world, yet they can cause problems during transfusions and organ transplants.
A Review of Common Blood Groups
Antigens that are found on the surface of red blood cells determine the blood groups. They are inherited, and the alleles that cause them are very closely linked. The A blood group has the A antigen, the B blood group has the B antigen, the AB blood group has both types, and the O group has neither. The RH factor is either positive or negative. How it works in terms of transfusions is that someone with O negative blood can donate to all blood groups, but can only receive blood from other O negative. People with AB blood can receive blood from any blood group, but they cannot donate to either Type A or Type B because their blood has antibodies against both A and B. People with Type A blood can only receive blood from A and O, but can donate to A and AB, and Type B can only receive blood from B and O, but can donate to A and AB. Part of the experiment with typing blood groups is to see how mixing incompatible blood types causes the red blood cells to clump and clot.
What Substances Carry Antigens on Red Blood Cells?
Some of the substances in red blood cells that carry the antigens are over 30 different types of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. The patterns are genetic, and come from both parents. Some of the most recent discoveries of the types of substances and antigens are because very close cross-matching of blood types are necessary for successful blood transfusions and organ transplants. The Duffy antigen carries resistance to malaria. Although it is relatively rare, it causes blood incompatibility disease in populations that carry the antigen.
Blood Research Discovers New Proteins
Until very recently, it was a mystery what proteins caused the rare blood types. Two new specialized proteins were isolated by a mass spectrometer. Those proteins have a bonus, because they may support new treatments for cancer, and help facilitate organ transplants. When the gene sequences in the blood for people who carry the rate blood types were isolated everyone had the same mutation.
New Research for Other Antibodies
Some of the blood proteins are very rare indeed. There is one rare blood type that causes the people that don’t have one protein on their red blood cells to reject almost all transfused blood. It is only found in 1 in 2500 people in Europe and the United States. It is caused by one small chunk of DNA that is missing, and was isolated using the mass spectrometer.
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