Abstract
A Japanese girl with blood phenotype O who is complicated with a rare deficiency of selective anti-A agglutinin is described. (A) Tests for patient red blood cell (RBC): Commercial anti-A or anti-B serum did not agglutinate the patient RBCs. Neither anti-A nor anti-B agglutinin activity was recovered from patient RBCs by absorption-elution experiment according to the method of Landsteiner & Miller. Flowcytometric analysis revealed that patient RBC is totally lacked of immunoreactive material against both anti-A and anti-B antibodies. (B) Patient serum: Patient serum preferentially agglutinated RBCs from type B individuals, but not from type A individuals. Both the activities of A-and B-transferase in the patient serum were undetectable. In patient saliva, excretion of H-substance was indicated by inhibition test using anti-H lectin (Ulex-lectin). Furthermore, neither the presence of irregular antibodies nor quantitative decrease of immunoglobulins G, A, and M was observed in patient serum. Studies of her family members confirmed that the propositus was an only patient having blood phenotype O which lacked anti-A agglutinin activity despite of normal expression of anti-B agglutinin.
