A team of researchers has found a type of blood so rare that, among more than 544,000 samples, only three people had it! Yes, three. It is called the hybrid B(A) phenotype, and it is a very peculiar mix of blood groups B and A. The researchers were surprised because, until now, it was believed that we already knew everything about blood, but apparently not! They are now investigating how transfusions are handled in hospitals around the world.
The study is led by hematologist Janejira Kittivorapart of Mahidol University (Thailand), and they found that some people (3) classified as group B have small traces of antigen A, something that should not happen according to the rules we know about blood types. This is due to very specific mutations in the ABO gene. And relax, it does not cause health problems, but it can cause issues in lab tests or in case of transfusion.
The team identified four different mutations, and they themselves admit that there is still a lot to discover about this gene!
Hybrid B(A) phenotype
To understand it better, the ABO system classifies your blood according to the antigens on your red blood cells, meaning that if you are group B, you should not have a trace of antigen A. That is what the rules told us, but interestingly these three people do have it, although in minimal, almost unnoticeable amounts.
A blood group.
The mix appears because mutations have occurred in the ABO gene that modify the way the enzyme responsible for building antigens does its job.
Clinically they are still group B, yes, but their blood behaves in a slightly “unusual” way.
A frequency that practically does not exist
And yes, only 0.00055% of the samples (3 people out of 544,000) showed this phenotype, one of the rarest blood types ever seen…
And these mutations, what do they tell us?
The finding suggests that perhaps there are more hidden blood variants just like this one that has now been discovered.
Are they in danger?
Beyond the fact that it is a very small mutation, it could cause problems in case of transfusion or transplant, so many hospitals and labs will be forced to carefully review what type of blood they are handling in case it is a situation similar to these three people we mentioned, to fine-tune protocols so as not to interfere with patient diagnoses.
In daily life, nothing happens. These people are completely normal and it does not imply any kind of disease.
But it must also be noted that the researchers admit that it is still not clear how these mutations affect the enzyme that creates antigens.
Under investigation
If you are wondering what the point is of studying this “mutation,” we are talking about research in transfusion compatibility, immunology, or genetic evolution, three very interesting fields within scientific research.
Three people in the world. Only three with this peculiarity, and even so, we do not know what implications this will have. We thought we knew everything, and nothing to do with it! If you want to know more about this, you can enter this link and it will take you directly to the main study!