Abstract
Background: Duffy antibodies play a significant role in hemolytic transfusion reactions and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, Duffy(FY) blood group genotyping an essential part of transfusion medicine. The purpose of this study was to assess the importance of Duffy (FY) DNA typing in conducting transfusion compatibility testing and improving Red Blood Cell matching during transfusion. Materials and Methods: In this study, 135 blood samples from SCD patients from the Southwest of Iran were included. All samples were tested with Anti-Fya and Anti-Fyb using the hemagglutination technique, and 64 samples with the fy(a+b-) and fy(a-b-) phenotypes were genotyped using DNA sequencing methods. Results: The prevalence of alloimmunization in this population was 13.04%. fy(a-b+) was the most common phenotype (37/135, 27.4%), followed by fy(a+b-) (35/135, 26%), fy(a+b+) (34/135, 25.2%); and fy(a-b-) (29/135, 21.4%). Among the 64 fy(a+b-) and fy(a-b-) samples, 40 (62.5%) patients had FY*BES allele. 21 out of 40 samples were FY*BES/FY*BES, 17 were FY*A/FY*BES, and 2 were FY*B/FY*BES. Conclusion: The prevalence of GATA-1 mutation (FY*BES allele), in fy(a-b-) and fy(a+b-) patients was reported 62.5%. Therefore, it is possible to use the genotypic information as a database to facilitate the process of searching and supplying better-matched blood transfusion.