A modified PCR-SSP method for the identification of ABO blood group antigens

The ABO blood group antigens are carbohydrate molecules synthesized by the glycosyltransferases encoded by the ABO gene on chromosome 9. Kidney transplantation across the ABO barrier generally leads to rapid humoral graft rejection due to the presence of naturally occurring antibodies to the A and B antigens. We have developed a method for ABO typing our cadaveric organ donors by the polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The method uses 12 primers in eight PCR mixtures and is performed under the same conditions as our routine HLA-A, B, C PCR-SSP typing. The PCR-SSP-based types of 166 regular blood donors and 148 cadaveric organ donors all showed total concordance with their serologically assigned ABO groups. Six individuals possessing the ABO A subgroups (A3, Ax and Aend) all typed as A1 by PCR-SSP, as expected. PCR-SSP is an appropriate method for ABO typing of cadaveric organ donors and, importantly, enables both ABO and HLA typing to be performed on the same DNA material.