There are numerous critical reasons scientists group blood types the way they do today, but the main reason is to allow for safe blood transfusions. As we all know, hospitals require most patients to have their blood profiled before receiving various medications, particularly those involving intravenous treatments.
The four major blood types are A, B, AB, and O. According to Science Focus, red blood cells, like all cells, have molecules on their surface known as "antigens." Depending on their genes, people have different antigens.
How important is blood grouping? The same report tells us that it is critical to be aware of red blood cell antigens because the immune system will attack them if a transfusion is received from someone with a different type, which can ultimately result in lung and kidney failure.
UK Scientists Discover New Blood Group Set
Scientists and doctors in the United Kingdom are said to have discovered a new set of blood groups in an attempt to save an unborn child. Based on a Wired report, doctors discovered a problem with the fetus' blood, prompting several medical interventions such as an early c-section and a series of blood transfusions. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive the procedures.
Scientists who took samples from the mother's blood revealed some shocking findings after a series of tests: the woman's blood was of an ultra-rare type, which might have rendered her baby's blood incompatible with her own.
The blood, which was thought to be the most extreme of its kind, encapsulated some strange antibodies that experts had never seen in recent times. Experts have made even more startling discoveries about blood. According to Bristol scientists, this blood may have prompted the mother's immune system to produce antibodies against her baby's blood via the placenta.
Solving a 30-year-old Mystery
After the tragic death of the unborn fetus, experts looked into three known blood group antigens that did not fit into any established blood group system. The aforementioned findings confirmed the "Er" system, a new blood grouping system.
"This discovery solves the 30-year-plus mystery of the genetic background of this blood group system, but the most important consideration for us, in investigating these cases, was to be able to provide answers to two mothers who tragically lost their babies," said Nicole Thornton, Head of Red Cell Reference at NHSBT's International Blood Group Reference Laboratory, in an NHS news release.
According to the same NHS news release, researchers from Bristol used a potent technique that allowed simultaneous analysis of all the subjects' gene-coding DNA sequences to examine people who had alloantibodies against a class of antigens known as Er that were discovered more than 30 years ago.
According to Tech Explorist, these people would produce a different protein on the surface of their cells as a result of specific changes made to the gene that codes for the Piezo1 protein.
Based on a study published in the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, Piezo1, a mechanosensory ion channel, is the carrier molecule for Er red cell antigens, establishing a new blood group system.
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