Clinical application of ABO blood typing.

BACKGROUND: The ABO blood group is closely related to clinical blood transfusion, transplantation, and neonatal hemolytic disease. It is also the most clinically significant blood group system in clinical blood transfusion. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the clinical application of the ABO blood group. METHODS: The most common ABO blood group typing methods in clinical laboratories are hemagglutination test and microcolumn gel test, while genotype detection is mainly adopted in clinical identification of suspicious blood types. However, in some cases, the expression variation or absence of blood type antigens or antibodies, experimental techniques, physiology, disease, and other factors affect the accurate determination of blood types, which may lead to serious transfusion reactions. RESULTS: The mistakes could be reduced or even eliminated by strengthening training, selecting reasonable identification methods, and optimizing processes, thereby improving the overall identification level of the ABO blood group. ABO blood groups are also correlated with many diseases, such as COVID-19 and malignant tumors. Rh blood groups are determined by the RHD and RHCE homologous genes on chromosome 1 and are classified as Rh negative or positive according to the D antigen., the agglutination method is often used in clinical settings, while genetic and sequencing methods are often used in scientific research. CONCLUSION: Accurate ABO blood typing is a critical requirement for the safety and effectiveness of blood transfusion in clinical practice. Most studies were designed for investigating rare Rh blood group family, and there is a lack of research on the relationship between Rh blood groups and common diseases.

Sex and ABO Blood Differences in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Susceptibility.

Data consisting of millions of cases cannot still explain the immunopathogenesis mechanism between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and host cell for ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics. Epidemiological studies among different populations suggested different impacts of ABO and Rh antibodies on the COVID-19 susceptibility. Thus, the ABO blood group and the SARS-CoV-2 infection paradox remain unclear. Therefore, the present retrospective case-control study aimed to investigate the possible association between ABO blood groups and Rh blood types on SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Turkish Cypriot population. A total of 18,639 Turkish Cypriot subjects (297 SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 patients and 18,342 healthy) were included in this study. Personal and clinical characteristics including age, gender, SARS-CoV-2 infection status, the ABO blood group and Rh blood types were evaluated and compared between two groups. As a result, ABO blood group was shown to be associated with a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as with male sex ( p = 0.018). There was no association between Rh blood type and COVID-19. Overall, this study is the first largest sample group study to show the distribution of ABO blood group and Rh blood types in the healthy Turkish Cypriot population. Based on the current evidence, there are insufficient data to guide public health policies regarding COVID-19 pathogenesis.

SARS-CoV-2 and mutation RT-qPCR test positivity correlation with ABO and Rh blood types.

Studies show that there may be a relationship between ABO blood type and SARS-CoV-2 transmission. It was aimed to determine by investigating the blood type of patients whose one-step reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test were positive for SARS-CoV-2. ABO and Rh blood types of individuals whose RT-qPCR test was positive for SARS-CoV-2 were examined and an evaluation was made to identify whether there was a relationship between them or not. The blood type data of 44.928 SARS-CoV-2 positive RT-qPCR test results have been obtained. 17.656 (39.29%) were delta, 8048 (17.91%) were alpha, 800 (1.78%) were beta, and 3000 (6.67%) were omicrons while 15.424 (34.33%) SARS-CoV-2 positive mutation was found to be negative. Our study suggests that O and Rh (-) blood types may provide protection against delta, AB and Rh (+) blood types may hinder omicron infection while A and Rh (+) blood types may be more vulnerable to alpha and delta while B and Rh (+) are more sensitive to beta mutation. The molecular mechanism underlying the relationship between blood types and SARS-CoV-2 infection needs further molecular studies and multi-centered studies.

Role of ABO blood system in COVID-19: Findings from a southern Italian study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a worldwide infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 and infects humans by binding to the ACE2 receptor. Blood group ABO glycoproteins can influence the binding of the virus to ACE2. The role of ABO blood system in the susceptibility to infection as well as in the clinical outcome of infected patients is still controversial and needs to be clarified. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 167 patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 who underwent nasopharyngeal swab, and of a control group represented by 891 subjects negative for SARS-CoV-2, to assess the association between ABO and Rh blood system and occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, clinical presentation, and outcome of disease. RESULTS: In the cohort of patients positive for SARS-CoV-2, no statistically significant difference in the distribution of ABO blood types compared with controls was observed. Patients with blood type A had a higher risk of developing symptomatic disease (p = 0.002; odds ratio [OR = 3.592]; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.576-8.187) compared to patients with blood types B, AB, and O. Patients with blood types B (p = 0.021; OR = 0.293; 95%CI = 0.099-0.869) and O (p = 0.018; OR = 0.417; 95%CI = 0.199-0.871) showed a lower risk in comparison to the other groups. The clinical progression to mild/moderate and severe/critical disease and the mortality showed no association. Moreover, no relationship with Rh blood type was found. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a role of ABO blood type in the development of symptomatic disease with a higher risk in subjects with blood type A and a protective effect of blood types B and O. Blood types do not seem, however, to play a role in susceptibility, progression to severe disease, and death.