A extremely rare blood group has recently been identified. Resolving a mystery more than a decade, it has so far been detected in one person, of Guadeloupe origin.
Try négatif
THE blood groups are determined by the presence (or absence) of particular molecules, called antigens, on the surface of the red blood cells. Discovered at the very beginning of the 20th century, ABO is the most common classification system. People of the first two groups have antigens A and B respectively, while the blood cells of group O members are devoid of it.
If the presence or absence of rhesus antigens (HR) makes it possible to establish whether it is their “positive “Or” negative », There are many others (there are currently more than 365), whose special arrangements have led to the identification of dozens of remarkably rare blood groups in recent decades.
Called Gwada negative, the recently identified example is officially the 48th blood group ever discovered. He was confirmed in early June by the International Society for Blood Transfusion.
It all started in 2011, when analyzing a 54 -year -old French plasma sample, taken upstream from surgery. If it had revealed the presence of a very unusual antibody, it was not until 2019 that a high speed genetic sequencing reveals a genetic mutation.
Cas unique
According to Thierry Peyrard, of the French Blood establishment, the patient’s parents were each carrying the transferred gene, but like her brothers and sisters, of a single allele, explaining that she is the only one to have this blood group, declaring herself ” with the two identical genes ».
Currently, this is the only identified case. A special protocol has been set up in the hope of finding other people from the same group.
Last September, scientists had identified a new blood group capable of saving millions of lives.