ABO, Rhesus blood groups and transfusion-transmitted infections among blood donors in Gabon

Abstract

Background: Few studies focused on the study of blood groups in Gabon. This study aimed to determine the phenotypic frequency of ABO and Rhesus antigens in blood donors of Libreville and to assess the association between ABO blood groups and transfusion-transmitted infections.

Materials and Methods: The study of ABO and Rhesus blood groups concerned 4,744 blood donors. ABO and Rhesus phenotyping were obtained using monoclonal monospecific antisera: anti-A, anti-B, anti-AB, anti-D, anti-E, anti-C, anti-c, and anti-e with an automate (QWALYS® 3, DIAGAST, France) or a card gel (ID Card, BIO-RAD) according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Results: The phenotypic frequency of blood group antigens A, B, AB and O were respectively 21.0%; 17.6%; 2.6% and 58.9%. Those of rhesus antigens D, d, C, c, E and e were 97.7%; 2.3%; 15.9%; 99.9%; 17.6%; 99.3%, respectively. The prevalence of ABO and Rh antigens in Gabonese donors reported here are significantly different from those of neighboring countries. No association was found between the prevalence of HIV, HCV and syphilis and ABO blood groups. Instead, HBV seroprevalence was twice as high among non-O blood groups donors compared with blood group O donors [OR = 2 (CI 1.26 to 3.2), p = 0.003].

Conclusions: This study provides new data on phenotypic frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups in a representative sample of the Gabonese blood donor population. It suggests a significant association between ABO blood group and HBV infection.

References
[1] World Health Organization. “Global Database on Blood Safety”. 2011

[2] Anstee DJ, “The relationship between blood groups and disease”, Blood, vol. 115, no. 23, pp. 4635-4643, 2010.

[3] B. M. Wolpin, A. T. Chan, P. Hartge et al.,“ABO blood group and the risk of pancreatic cancer”, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol. 101, no. 6, pp. 424-31, 2009.

[4] B. M. Wolpin, P. Kraft, M. Gross et al.,“Pancreatic cancer risk and ABO blood group alleles: results from the pancreatic cancer cohort consortium”, Cancer Research, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 1015-23, 2010

[5] B. M. Wolpin, P. Kraft, M. Xu et al.,“Variant ABO blood group alleles, secretor status, and risk of pancreatic cancer: results from the pancreatic cancer cohort consortium”, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, vol. 19, no. 12, Dec, pp. 3140-9, 2010

[6] G. Bedu-Addo, P. P. Gai, S. Meese, T. A. Eggelte, K. Thangaraj and F. P. Mockenhaupt. Reduced prevalence of placental malaria in primiparae with blood group O. Malaria Journal, vol. 13, pp. 289, 2014.

[7] K. L. Wiggins, N. L. Smith, N. L. Glazer et al.,“ABO genotype and risk of thrombotic events and hemorrhagic stroke”, Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, vol. 7, no.2, pp. 263-9, 2009.

[8] M. A. Gates, B. M. Wolpin, D. W. Cramer, S. E. Hankinson and S. S. Tworoger. “ABO blood group and incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer”, International Journal of Cancer, vol. 128, no. 2, pp. 482-6, 2011.

[9] S. Mazières and J. Chiaroni. “Approche anthropologique des groupes sanguins érythrocytaires ”, In: J. L. Eurotext (Editions), 2015.

[10] S. Guindo, “Phénotype érythrocytaire dans les systèmes de groupes sanguins immunogènes chez les donneurs de sang à Bamako”. Thèse de Pharmarcie, Université de Bamako, 2005.

[11] Z. A. Jeremiah and C. Odumody. “Rh antigens and phenotype frequencies of the Ibibio, Efik, and Ibo ethnic nationalities in Calabar, Nigeria”, Immunohematology, vol. 21, no.1, pp. 21-4, 2005.

[12] G. Languillat, J. Cartron, R. Gerbal and C. Salmon. “Erythrocyte phenotypes in Gabon. I. Hemotypologic data”, Revue française de transfusion et immuno-hématologie, vol. 23, no.6, pp. 675-82, 1980

[13] A. Empana and A. Jouvenceaux. “Erythrocyte phenotypes and gene frequency of the ABO system in the Congo population. Evaluation based on 5,400 subjects”, Revue française de transfusion et immuno-hématologie, vol. 25, no.1, pp. 19-24, 1982.

[14] S. T. Ndoula, J. J. Noubiap, J. R. Nansseu and A. Wonkam. “Phenotypic and allelic distribution of the ABO and Rhesus (D) blood groups in the Cameroonian population”, International Journal of Immunogenetics, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 206-10,2014.

[15] C. Bisseye, M. Sanou, B. M. Nagalo et al., “Epidemiology of syphilis in regional blood transfusion centres in Burkina Faso, West Africa”, Pan African Medical Journal, vol. 16, pp. 69, 2013.

[16] N. Habti, N. Nourichafi and N. Benchemsi. “ABO polymorphism in blood donors in Morocco”, Transfusion Clinique et Biologique, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 95-7, 2004.

[17] https://www.ints.fr/SangTransfGrSanguin.aspx

[18] P. Garg, S. Upadhyay, S. S. Chufal, Y. Hasan and I. Tayal. “Prevalance of ABO and Rhesus Blood Groups in Blood Donors: A Study from a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Kumaon Region of Uttarakhand”, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, vol. 8, no.12, pp. FC16-9, 2014.

[19] E. Hosoi, “Biological and clinical aspects of ABO blood group system”, Journal of Medical Investigation, vol. 55, no. 3-4, pp. 174-82, 2008

[20] G. Garratty, S. A. Glynn, R. McEntire and S. Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor. “ABO and Rh(D) phenotype frequencies of different racial/ethnic groups in the United States”, Transfusion, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 703-6, 2004.

[21] S. L. Pathirana, H. K. Alles, S. Bandara et al., “ABO-blood-group types and protection against severe, Plasmodium falciparum malaria”, Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 119-24, 2005.

[22] J. A. Rowe, I. G. Handel, M. A. Thera et al.,“Blood group O protects against severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria through the mechanism of reduced resetting”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 104, no. 4, pp. 17471-6, 2007

[23] K. T. Wolofsky, K. Ayi, D. R. Branch et al.,“ABO blood groups influence macrophagemediated phagocytosis of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes”, PLoS Pathogens, vol. 8, no.10, p.e1002942, 2012.

[24] L. K. Rerambiah, L. E. Rerambiah, C. Bengone and J. F. Djoba Siawaya. “The risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections at the Gabonese National Blood Transfusion Centre”, Blood Transfusion, vol. 12, no. 3, Jul, pp. 330-3, 2014.

[25] D. S. Wang, D. L. Chen, C. Ren et al., “ABO blood group, hepatitis B viral infection and risk of pancreatic cancer”, International Journal of Cancer, vol. 131, no. 2, pp. 461-8, 2012.

[26] F. Mohammadali and A. Pourfathollah. “Association of ABO and Rh Blood Groups to Blood-Borne Infections among Blood Donors in Tehran–Iran”, Iranian Journal of Public Health, vol. 43, no.7, pp. 981-989, 2014.

[27] M. Iavarone, C. Della Corte, C. Pelucchi et al., “Risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in relation to ABO blood type”, Digestive and Liver Disease, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 94-6, 2015.