Reactome | Blood group systems biosynthesis

Blood group systems biosynthesis

Stable Identifier

R-HSA-9033658

DOI

10.3180/R-HSA-9033658.1

Type

Pathway

Species

Homo sapiens

ReviewStatus

5/5

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The association between blood type and disease has been studied since the beginning of the 20th Century (Anstee 2010, Ewald & Sumner 2016). Landsteiner's discovery of blood groups in 1900 was based on agglutination patterns of red blood cells when blood types from different donors were mixed (Landsteiner 1931, Owen 2000, Tan & Graham 2013). His work is the basis of routine compatibility testing and transfusion practices today. The immune system of patients receiving blood transfusions will attack any donor red blood cells that contain antigens that differ from their self-antigens. Therefore, matching blood types is essential for safe blood transfusions. Landsteiner's classification of the ABO blood groups confirmed that antigens were inherited characteristics. In the 1940s, it was established that the specificity of blood group antigens was determined by their unique oligosaccharide structures. Since then, exponential advances in technology have resulted in the identification of over 300 blood group antigens, classified into more than 35 blood group systems by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) (Storry et al. 2016).

Blood group antigens comprise either a protein portion or oligosaccharide sequence attached on a glycolipid or glycoprotein. The addition of one or more specific sugar molecules to this oligosaccharide sequence at specific positions by a variety of glycosyltransferases results in the formation of mature blood group antigens. The genes that code for glycosytransferases can contain genetic changes that produce antigenic differences, resulting in new antigens or loss of expression. Blood group antigens are found on red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, leukocytes, and plasma proteins and also exist in soluble form in bodily secretions such as breast milk, seminal fluid, saliva, sweat, gastric secretions and urine. Blood groups are implicated in many diseases such as those related to malignancy (Rummel & Ellsworth 2016), the cardiovascular system (Liumbruno & Franchini 2013), metabolism (Meo et al. 2016, Ewald & Sumner 2016) and infection (Rios & Bianco 2000, McCullough 2014). The most important and best-studied blood groups are the ABO, Lewis and Rhesus systems. The biosynthesis of the antigens in these systems is described in this section.

Literature References

PubMed ID	Title	Journal	Year
27599872	Blood type biochemistry and human disease Ewald, DR, Sumner, SC	Wiley Interdiscip Rev Syst Biol Med	2016
28031957	The role of the histoblood ABO group in cancer Ellsworth, RE, Rummel, SK	Future Sci OA	2016
29093749	International society of blood transfusion working party on red cell immunogenetics and terminology: report of the Seoul and London meetings Flegel, WA, Moulds, JM, van der Schoot, CE, Daniels, G, Storry, JR, Nogues, N, Westhoff, C, Gassner, C, Wendel, S, Castilho, L, de Haas, M, Wagner, F, Keller, M, Lomas-Francis, C, Olsson, ML, Thornton, N, Chen, Q, Denomme, G, Yahalom, V, Hyland, C, Tani, Y, Peyrard, T	ISBT Sci Ser	2016
17755773	INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN HUMAN BLOOD Landsteiner, K	Science	1931
10880463	Karl Landsteiner and the first human marker locus Owen, R	Genetics	2000
10791886	The role of blood group antigens in infectious diseases Bianco, C, Rios, M	Semin. Hematol.	2000
25696886	RBCs as targets of infection McCullough, J	Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program	2014
20308598	The relationship between blood groups and disease Anstee, DJ	Blood	2010
24120598	Beyond immunohaematology: the role of the ABO blood group in human diseases Liumbruno, GM, Franchini, M	Blood Transfus	2013
23716146	Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943): originator of ABO blood classification Tan, SY, Graham, C	Singapore Med J	2013
26875891	Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with type 2 diabetes mellitus Rouq, FA, Zaidi, SZ, Meo, SA, Suraya, F	Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci	2016