Polymorphic analysis of the Lutheran blood group system in Chinese

The Lutheran blood group is a complex system consisting of 19 identified antigens. It belongs to the immunoglobulin family of receptors and adhesion molecules. Four pairs of antigens show allelic relationships while other antigens are of very high incidence. In this study, we performed genetic polymorphism analyses by molecular techniques of the Lutheran blood group system in Chinese subjects. Blood samples were collected from randomly-selected healthy donors and analyzed by PCR-RFLP or SBT methods. LU1/2(Lu(a)/Lu(b)), LU6/9, LU8/14, and LU18/LU19(Au(a)/Au(b)) antigen polymorphisms were detected as follows: 1102 individuals were diagnosed as Lu(a-b+) type; 117 individuals were all LU(6+9-) genotypes; 119 individuals were all LU(8+14-) genotypes. Among 368 individuals, 278 showed homozygous nt1615A, 6 showed homozygous nt1615G, and 84 showed nt1615A/G heterozygosity. The gene frequencies of Au(a) and Au(b) in Chinese subjects were 0.8695 and 0.1304 respectively. A novel allele was identified in 4 Lu(18+19-) phenotype cases from 3 families.