Blood, 1 October 2007, Vol. 110, No. 7, pp. 2250-2258.
Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on May 14, 2007; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-03-077602.
 Previous Article | Table of Contents | Next Article 
REVIEW ARTICLE
The ABO blood group system and Plasmodium falciparum malaria
Christine M. Cserti1, and
Walter H. Dzik2
1 University Health Network, Toronto General Hospital (Blood Transfusion Laboratory), Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
2 Blood Transfusion Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
In the century since the discovery of the ABO blood groups, numerous associations between ABO groups and disease have been noted. However, the selection pressures defining the ABO distributions remain uncertain. We review published information on Plasmodium falciparum infection and ABO blood groups. DNA sequence information dates the emergence and development of the group O allele to a period of evolution before human migration out of Africa, concomitant with P falciparum's activity. The current geographic distribution of group O is also consistent with a selection pressure by P falciparum in favor of group O individuals in malaria-endemic regions. We critically review clinical reports of ABO and P falciparum infection, documenting a correlation between disease severity and ABO group. Finally, we review published data on the pathogenesis of P falciparum infection, and propose a biologic model to summarize the role of ABO blood groups in cytoadherence biology. Such ABO-related mechanisms also point to a new hypothesis to account for selection of the Le(a–b–) phenotype. Taken together, a broad range of available evidence suggests that the origin, distribution, and relative proportion of ABO blood groups in humans may have been directly influenced by selective genetic pressure from P falciparum infection.
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
A. E. Fry, M. J. Griffiths, S. Auburn, M. Diakite, J. T. Forton, A. Green, A. Richardson, J. Wilson, M. Jallow, F. Sisay-Joof, et al.
Common variation in the ABO glycosyltransferase is associated with susceptibility to severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria
Hum. Mol. Genet.,
February 14, 2008;
17(4):
567 - 576.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Rowe, I. G. Handel, M. A. Thera, A.-M. Deans, K. E. Lyke, A. Kone, D. A. Diallo, A. Raza, O. Kai, K. Marsh, et al.
Blood group O protects against severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria through the mechanism of reduced rosetting
PNAS,
October 30, 2007;
104(44):
17471 - 17476.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
