Recently, a number of media outlets have reprinted reports claiming that two new blood types discovered by Japanese scientists are completely different from the known A, B, O and AB, known as Langereis blood type and Junior blood type. The phenomenon is said to be related to the leakage of radioactive materials caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident. The report also said that the effect may soon spread across the globe, and that more than a dozen new blood types may appear in humans in the future.
In this regard, the Science and Technology Daily reporter interviewed relevant blood research experts, who said that radiation can indeed cause genetic mutations in the red blood cell system, which in turn leads to blood mutations and the emergence of new blood types. But these two blood types are not the first time in Japan, and have nothing to do with the nuclear leak.
Human blood types are many and complex. The four blood types we usually refer to as A, B, O and AB actually belong to a blood group system called the ABO blood group system. Zhou Xueli, director of the blood transfusion department of the hematology hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that it has been found that there are 36 blood group systems in humans, and there are a varying number of blood groups in each of these blood group systems. However, among these blood group systems, the ABO blood group system was the first to be discovered and has had the greatest impact on humans.
"Blood group refers to the types of antigens on the surface of blood components (including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets), which are all genetically determined by different chromosomes." Feng Yanqing, deputy chief physician of the blood transfusion department of the 302nd Hospital of the PLA, explained that in addition to the ABO blood type system, our common blood types include RH, MNS, KEL and other blood type systems, which correspond to different types of antigens on blood cells.
Langereis and Junior blood types are also in the blood group system recognized by the International Society of Blood Transfusion, with numbers 32 and 33, respectively. feng yanqing said these two blood types seem to be new faces in the blood group system, and they were officially identified in 2012. But in fact, the initial discovery of them dates back decades.
Doctors and researchers have actually been aware of the medical problems associated with these blood types for a long time, except that at the time, the systems were not well understood, nor was it clear which genes determined the differences in blood types. Reports of hemolytic reactions caused by antibodies associated with the Langereis blood group were already in the literature in the 1960s; and case reports of the Junior blood group date back to 1978. It was only because the genes for these two antigens could never be found that French scientists discovered the genes controlling these two blood groups in 2012, and only then did the two blood group systems receive their official names.
It is known that individuals with rare blood types lacking the Lan blood group antigen were discovered in China as early as 2008, a time point earlier than the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. In addition, the human history of several more serious nuclear accidents have not been found after the new blood type. The reporter learned that, so far, the Shanghai Blood Center, "China's rare blood type library," there is still Lan - blood type donor information.
Feng Yanqing said that the most sensitive part of the body to radiation damage is the gastrointestinal cells and tissues, as well as bone marrow in the hematopoietic cell tissue. Radiation can cause genetic mutations in the red blood cell system, which in turn can lead to blood mutations and the creation of new blood types. Blood group mutations can cause the production of new blood group antigens and new antibodies, and if the original red blood cells are still present in the body, mixed blood groups can occur, making blood matching difficult.
Feng Yanqing said, the emergence of new blood types and the environment, human evolution, in addition, some of the new blood type originally existed in the human body, but has not been found.