A, B, O, AB: until now humanity seemed divided into four blood groups, supplemented by rhesus (positive or negative). Selon Wired, things may very well change, with new fundamental discoveries being recently made by science. These could explain why some blood transfusions, on very rare occasions, can have disastrous consequences.
The scientific breakthrough described here originated from the research that followed the brain hemorrhage of a British child, which cost him his life. Born by an early caesarean section after the detection of a serious blood problem, the baby had been transfused several times as soon as he was born. Could the composition of his or his mother’s blood explain the bleeding? In any case, this is what the doctors have been trying to find out.
Part of the answer was actually to be found in the mother: tests showed that her blood contained some rather unusual antibodies. Further, more detailed examinations later determined that the patient’s blood was of an extremely rare type, which would have made her baby’s blood incompatible with hers. Faced with this incompatibility, her immune system would have produced the antibodies in question to fight her own baby’s blood. By the time the antibodies in question reached the placenta, it was too late.
Why was this woman’s blood, and that of other patients with similar experiences, different? According to current classifications, scientists have found it difficult to answer. Hence the need to create a new way of listing blood groups: the “Er” system.
number forty four
Contrary to what we generally know about blood, the ABO ranks it is far from the only system have been established and proposed by the scientific community. This is why “Er” is considered the forty-fourth blood classification system. Over the past decade, Wired explains, on average each year a new system has been certified, such as the one presented in 2020, which includes a new blood group called negative MAMofficially worn by … eleven people around the world.
The “Er” system is more specifically linked to Piezo1, a particular protein present on the surface of red blood cells, as detailed in the Blood diary. In this classification, there are a total of five antigens, i.e. five possible variations of Piezo1 that can lead to blood incompatibility. Apparently, two of these antigens had never been described before: one of them was found in the blood of the British mother who lost her baby.
“Er” has not yet been officially validated, but it is only a matter of time: it will happen at the next meeting ofInternational Blood Transfusion Societya scientific society founded in 1935. Specialists describe this new system as a discovery “in size”similar to that “from a new planet”.
However, this shouldn’t change anything for the vast majority of us – the ABO system should continue to be used in the medical sector. On the other hand, people carrying a particular blood, recognizable thanks to the “Er” system, can be detected and then treated appropriately, in order to avoid any incompatibility.
