Molecular mechanisms underlying DEL phenotype among ethnic Han individuals from Jiangsu / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the molecular mechanism underlying the DEL phenotype among RhD negative ethnic Han individuals from Jiangsu, China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The DEL phenotype was determined by an adsorption elution test among 57 RhD negative blood donors. The Rh C, c, E, and e phenotypes were detected by a tube method. PCR with sequence-specific primering (PCR-SSP) assay was used to determine the RHCE genotypes. The RHD gene of the DEL individuals were amplified with polymerase chain reaction and subjected to Sanger sequencing analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 57 RhD negative donors, 10 (17.54%) were determined as having the DEL phenotype. The major RhCE phenotypes for DEL and RhD negative cases were RhCcee (80.0%) and Rhccee (61.7%), respectively. All RHD gene sequences of the 10 individuals have harbored a G>A mutation at position 1227 of exon 9.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A proportion of RhD negative individuals determined by routine serological method are actually DEL with RHD gene mutations. RHD *1227A is the most prevalent DEL genotype among ethnic Han Chinese from Jiangsu. Further research on the phenotype and underlying molecular mechanism of DEL is important for blood transfusion.</p>