@article{Habib_Salamat_ud Din_Yazdani_Khan_Naeem_2023, title={Serological and Molecular Characterization of Blood Group A2 in Pakistan}, volume={73}, url={https://pafmj.org/PAFMJ/article/view/6143}, DOI={10.51253/pafmj.v73i1.6143}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Objective:</strong> To determine the frequency of Blood Group A2 genotype among Group A Pakistani whole blood donors.</p> <p><strong>Study Design:</strong> Cross-sectional study.</p> <p><strong>Place and Duration of Study:</strong> Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2019 to Jan 2020.</p> <p><strong>Methodology:</strong> One thousand (1000) healthy and unrelated blood donors were selected. The blood samples were typed for ABO, and those of Blood Groups-A and AB were further subtyped with the help of anti-A1 lectin to categorize them as A1,non-A1, A1B and non-A1B Groups. Next, DNA of non-A1 samples was extracted, and a Polymerase Chain Reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) for type A2 was performed, followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Among one thousand blood donors, 247(24.7%) were typed as Blood Group-A, 94(9.4%) as AB-Group, 339(33.9%) BGroup and 320(32%) O Group with variable strength of reaction with ABO antisera. A and AB Blood Groups were further subgrouped as A1 202(20.2%), A1B 77(7.7%), non-A1 45(4.5%) and non-A1B 17(1.7%). Anti-A1 antibodies were detected in 6(13.3%) of non-A1 samples. PCR of non-A1 samples showed 32(12.9%) to be genotypically A2, and the remaining 13(5.2%) were not A2 and were not further resolved.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Blood Group A2 is not a rare Subgroup in our population. PCR-SSP is a more specific technique than anti-A1 lectin for establishing the Blood Group status of an individual.</p>}, number={1}, journal={Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal}, author={Habib, Iram and Salamat, Nuzhat and ud Din, Nasir and Yazdani, Muhammad Sajid and Khan, Saleem Ahmed and Naeem, Muhammad Abdul}, year={2023}, month={Feb.}, pages={248–51} }