When was blood grouping discovered

There are at least three hypotheses about the emergence and mutation of human blood groups. Global distribution pattern of blood groups depends on various environmental factors, such as disease, climate, altitude, humidity etc. In this survey, the collection of main blood groups ABO and Rh, along with some minor groups, are presented.

Several investigations of blood groups from Iran, particularly a large sampling on individuals from Iran, including the main blood groups ABO and Rh, as well as minor blood groups such as Duffy, Lutheran, Kell, KP, Kidd, and Xg, have been reviewed.

It was not until the year , when Karl Landsteiner at the University of Vienna, discovered why some blood transfusions were successful while others could be deadly.

Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood group system by mixing the red cells and serum of each of his staff. He demonstrated that the serum of some people agglutinated the red cells of other. The fourth less frequent blood group AB, was discovered a year later. In , Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for his work 1. The gene that determines human ABO blood type is located on chromosome 9 9q The ABO locus has three main allelic forms: A, B, and O, as mentioned above and each of them is responsible for the production of its glycoprotein.

As investigations have demonstrated on monkeys Table 1 , human blood groups are very old genetic indicators which have evolved during several million years 2. Based on the primary races hypothesis, it was thought that in the three major races of man, blood groups A in Europe, B in Asian, and finally O in South America have been emerged and gradually due to the migration and mixing of the races, became the present situation.

But we know that in each continent, the isolated populations are seen that have completely different blood groups. For example, there is relatively high prevalence of blood group O in Siberian inhabitants; also this blood group is very common in some areas of Switzerland 3.

According to another hypothesis, the emergence of all blood groups A and B and their subgroups, are resulted from successive mutations, from a basic and common blood group, which is the O group, and have been branched over millions of years Fig.

According to this hypothesis, the emergence of all blood groups is resulted from successive mutations, from the O group. While in most of recent ethnic groups A and B blood groups are dominant.

In another hypothesis, the first blood group had been AB blood group, which gradually and over the time due to genetic mutations was resulted in A and B and finally O blood groups Fig.

Base on this theory, perhaps a few million years ago all people have had type O blood only, which is more resistant against many infectious diseases. Based on the second hypothesis, the first blood group had been AB, which gradually has been resulted in A and B and O blood groups.

The emergence and evolution of blood groups in humans is still not clear. The geographical spread not only is a result of the above assumptions, but the current process of natural selection against environmental factors such as diseases, climate, humidity, altitude and etc. After discovery of the first human blood groups ABO by Karl Landsteiner in 5 , gradually from , other blood groups were also discovered and reported which its collection is given in Table 2. It is important to mention that Landsteiner together with his American colleague Alexander Wiener discovered the Rh blood group and reported it in , Landsteiner in his 17 th scientific paper in reported blood group ABO which was displayed at the beginning with the letters ABC.

In , he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery. In addition to the known blood groups Table 2 , nearly twenty public antigens and also sixty-specific antigen or family antigen Private Antigens have been reported 3.

Moreover, the main blood groups ABO, gradually discovered and reported 3 which the most notably of them are as follows:. It does this through natural selection. Specific ABO blood types are thought to be linked with increased or decreased susceptibility to particular diseases. For instance, individuals with type A blood are at a somewhat higher risk of contracting smallpox and developing cancer of the esophagus, pancreas, and stomach.

People who are type O are at a higher risk for contracting cholera and plague as well as developing duodenal and peptic ulcers.

Research suggests that they are also more tasty to mosquitoes. That could be a significant factor in contracting malaria. They are not simply AB codominant. Apparently, most of these blood chimera individuals shared a blood supply with their non-identical twin before birth. In some cases, people are unaware that they had a twin because he or she died early in gestation and was spontaneously aborted.

Some people are microchimeric--they have a small amount of blood of a different type in their system that has persisted from a blood transfusion or passed across the placental barrier from their mother before birth. Likewise, fetal blood can pass into a mother's system. This fact has led some researchers to suggest that the significantly higher frequency of autoimmune disorders in women is a result of the presence of foreign white blood cells that had come from their unborn children during pregnancy.

NEWS: An international team of researchers led by Henrick Clausen of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark have discovered a bacterial enzyme that can convert red blood cells of types A, B, and AB into O by stripping away their identifying surface antigens.

This has the potential for dramatically improving the safety of blood transfusions. Clinical trials of this technique are now underway. NEWS: A research team led by Peer Bork of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidleberg, Germany discovered that people can be classified into one of 3 distinct types based on the kinds of bacteria in their guts.

They refer to them as enterotypes. This type system is independent of blood types and may have equally important implications for peoples' health. Landsteiner called this the Rh-factor, named after the rhesus monkeys he had used for such research. With the Rh-factor identified, researcher could better study and explain newborn hemolytic disease, a condition that arises when an Rh negative woman gives birth to second-born Rh positive fetus.

During her first Rh positive pregnancy , an Rh negative mother develops Rh positive antibodies that can cause her body to attack the second Rh positive fetus. Landsteiner also analyzed blood chemistry and defined genetic differences between individuals in regard to blood type. This also proved to be important for forensic scientists who used blood groups to exclude suspects suspected of leaving blood at the scene of a crime. Towards the end of his life, Landsteiner turned his attention to the study of malignant tumors to find a treatment after his wife developed thyroid cancer.

Karl Landsteiner died from a heart attack on 26 June Karl Landsteiner By: Corey Harbison. Karl Landsteiner Karl Landsteiner studied blood types in Europe and in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Landsteiner became a US citizen in , and he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in Landsteiner continued researching until the end of his life and compiled a comprehensive summary of his contributions to medicine in his book Die Spezifitat Der Serologischen Reaktionen The Specificity of Serological Reactions.

Sources American National Red Cross. Durand, Joel K. Eibl, Martha M. Berlin: Springer, Heidelberger, Michael. Karl Landsteiner — Washington D. Landsteiner, Karl. Accessed October 28, Information on Antigens]. Biochemische Zeitschrift [Biochemical Journal] : — Landsteiner, Karl, and John Jacobs. Landsteiner, Karl, and Philip Levine.

Landsteiner, Karl, and C. Philip Miller Jr. Landsteiner, Karl, and Erwin Popper. Landsteiner promptly dubbed them anti-A and anti-B. Eventually, his valuable conclusions led to the identification of the four blood groups: A, B, O, and AB. Landsteiner also suggested other uses for his findings.

In , he recommended that blood grouping could be used in paternity cases as well as proposing its forensic application in the solving of crimes where blood stains were left on the scene. Even so, in , he married Helene Wlasto with whom he had a son, Ernst Karl, who would later become a doctor as well.

In addition to his celebrated revelations regarding blood typing, Landsteiner also labored to devise a polio vaccine. After performing an autopsy on a young boy with polio, he conducted numerous experiments that involved injecting the disease into various animals. His studies brought him to the Pasteur Institute where he and other scientists were able to connect poliomyelitis to a viral cause. His examination of these antigen-antibody reactions ultimately led him to explore the chemical and immunological basis of skin sensitization and allergy.

Landsteiner relocated permanently in , finally accepting a position at the Rockefeller Institute.