Study on the Antigens and Antibodies of Mur and Mia Blood Groups in Southern China

Background: The frequency of Mur and Mia blood group antigens in Asian population is much higher than that in Caucasian population. However, due to the scarcity and high price of commercial detection reagents, there are few studies on antigen and antibody detection and comparative analysis in large samples. Objective: To study the occurrence frequency, antigen correlation and antibody properties of Mur and Mia antigens and their corresponding antibodies in southern China. Methods: Mur and Mi(a) antigens and antibodies in local blood donors and patients were detected by routine serological microplate method. Statistical methods were used to calculate the incidence of two antigens and antibodies and analyze their correlation. Results: Among blood donors, the positive rates of Mur and Mia antigens were 6.4 % and 6.5 % respectively, with no significant difference (P > 0.05). In this region, the incidence of anti- "Mur " and anti- "Mi(a) " was 0.65 % and 0.45 % respectively. But significant difference existed between blood donors and patients (P < 0.05). Among the anti- "Mur " and anti- "Mi(a) " positive patients, most of the antibodies were IgM or IgM + IgG mixed type and had saline activity. Conclusion: Mur and Mia antigens and their corresponding antibodies have a high frequency in the population of southern China. In the routine clinical detection of irregular antibodies, Mur or Mi(a) positive (GP.Mur) should be added to screen erythrocytes. Moreover, given the high correlation between Mur and Mia antigens expression on red blood cells, using monoclonal antibodies against Mia could predict the presence of Mur antigen.