Molecular Bases and Genotyping for Rare Blood Types

The provision of suitable blood units for patients carrying clinically significant antibodies to high-frequency antigens (HFAs) is a special challenge for blood establishments. Typing of donors and screening for HFA-negative individuals is increasingly performed by genotyping. In this context the selection of the HFAs of interest, the molecular background of some model antigens, and the different requirements for donor screening versus resolving serological problems are addressed. In addition, several published approaches for mass-scale donor genotyping are reviewed. Furthermore, the results of a DNA-based donor screening for 12 HFAs in 11,400 Austrian donors that resulted in finding 94 newly identified HFA-negative donors are referred to.