'Very unusual': 68-year-old woman with new blood type found; compatible only with herself
.
Scientists have discovered a
new blood type
in a 68-year-old woman from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe. The blood group has been named 'Gwada Negative' and is only found in one woman across the globe.
Thierry Peyrard, a medical biologist at the EFS, said, "She is the only person in the world who is compatible with herself', as reported by AFP. Peyrard explained that the woman got her blood type from both her parents, as each of them carried the mutated gene. He said that such an instance was 'very unusual'.
The research team that made this discovery announced their findings in a presentation at the International Society of Blood Transfusion's Congress in Milan, which concluded on June 4. The research team had initially met the woman in Paris in 2011 when she was undergoing routine checkups before a surgery, when doctors could not ascertain her blood group, reported the French blood establishment (EFS).
At the time, research methods were not advanced enough to solve the case, which remained unsolved for eight years.
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In 2019, researchers used
high-throughput gene sequencing
, a method that allows faster and deeper DNA analysis, to re-examine the woman's blood. Over the next two years, they carefully studied her full genetic makeup.
The woman's strange lab test results ultimately led to the discovery of a mutation in a gene called PIGZ, which changes the way proteins anchor to the surface of blood cells, as reported by LiveScience. Till now, EFS has recognised 47 blood group systems.
The ABO blood group systems which was initially identified by Austrian-American biologist Dr Karl Landsteiner, is the first and the most familiar blood group system. DNA sequencing in the latest years has accelerated the discovery of new blood groups in the recent years.
Blood group systems play a crucial role in safe blood transfusions, as the body rejects antigens that it perceives as foreign. The most common ABO blood typing system describes whether people have both the antigens of 'A', 'B', one of them or neither of them.
In the ABO system, individuals with both A and B antigens (AB blood type) can recieve blood from any blood group as their body recognises both the antigens. On the other hand, people with O blood type can only receive blood from other O-type donors as they do not have A or B antigens.
Peryard and his colleagues are now aiming to find other people with the same blood group as "Discovering new blood types means offering patients with rare blood a better level of care," said the EFS statement.
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