[ABO blood group expression in female genital organs. An immunohistochemical study]

The accumulation of false-negative results in the immunocytochemical investigation of vaginal swabs of nonsecretors was our reason for checking ABH blood-group labeling in female genitalia in situ (11 sections each from 51 different autopsies). The epithelia and endothelia showed positive staining in the blood group concerned. The epithelia of the secretors were strongly marked in the fallopian tube, vagina, urinary bladder, and urethra, whereas in the other sections the staining was irregular. The superficial layers of the vaginal epithelium of nonsecretors were not marked, which explains the poor results in the immunocytochemical investigation of vaginal swabs. Blood group A subtyping seems possible because after anti-H incubation, nearly complete labeling of the endothelia of the A2 cases took place; this is not the case for AB cases.