Abstract

  Background and Objectives

  H antigen is a precursor to A and B antigens. Person who lacks A and B antigens has a strong expression of H antigen. In 1 per million population, Bombay phenotype ( lack of A, B, H antigens) is observed, because this group should just experience autologous transfusion. Accurate identification of such people is highly recommended.

  Materials and Methods

  2178 persons from 3 different population were selected. One group was Indian population of Tehran (100), 78 persons from 2 families with Bombay phenotype history, and the third group(2000) was selected as volunteer donors. All of them have O group phenotype.10cc of whole blood was taken from each subject. Red blood cells washed 3 times with saline and finally samples with 5% dilution were prepared. Each sample was treated with H-Lectin anti-sera, and after 30 minutes agglutination was detected with naked eye and microscope.

  Results

  Only 1 subject among donors had Bombay phenotype.

  Conclusions

  Limitation in Indian population in Tehran caused hinderance in detection of new cases of Bombay phenotype. At the end, detection of 1 Bombay phenotype among 2000 donors seems very significant.

  Key words: H antigen, Bombay phenotype, 3 different population