A �New� Antigen and Antibody in the P System

Distribution of Hereditary Blood Antigens among American Indians in Middle America: Lacandón and Other Maya

“…The values for all the 1,088 Maya agree well with Fy" gene frequencies reported for American Indians by others-74.74% for Blood Indians (Chown and Lewis 1953), 86.36y0 for Chippewa (Matson et al 1959), and 67.84% for Diegueiio (Pantin and Kallsen 1953); but are high when compared with 40.74y0 reported for 205 English (Cutbush and Mollison 1950), and 43.44% for 300 Whites in Minnesota (Matson, Koch, and Levine 1954).…”

“…THE HENSHAW (He) ANTIGEN Although no Henshaw (He) antiserum was available for this present study, it is possible to report that our previous study (Matson and Swanson 1959) revealed a complete absence of the Henshaw (He) antigen among 67 Itza Maya, 37 Tzeltal, and 62 Tzotzil. No (He) antiserum was available for testing the Lacand6ns.…”

“…The newer notations (Matson et al 1959;Sanger 1955) PI and P2 are used here where P1 is the antigen previously called P, and Pz is the one formerly called p. Only anti-Pl (anti-P) sera were used in testing the bloods. Positive and negative controls were employed as reference.…”

Molecular Basis of the Globoside-deficient Pk Blood Group Phenotype

“…The P k blood group phenotype was recognized in 1959 by Matson et al (1) because of antibodies in the serum of a patient whose erythrocytes were shown to lack an antigen related to but not identical with previously discovered P-related antigens (1). Further studies later showed the P antigen to be globotetraosylceramide (Gb 4 Cer, globoside, GalNAc␤3Gal␣4Gal␤4-GlcCer), 1 the most abundant neutral glycolipid in the erythrocyte membrane (2) as well as in other mesodermally derived tissues (3,4).…”

“…Further studies later showed the P antigen to be globotetraosylceramide (Gb 4 Cer, globoside, GalNAc␤3Gal␣4Gal␤4-GlcCer), 1 the most abundant neutral glycolipid in the erythrocyte membrane (2) as well as in other mesodermally derived tissues (3,4). Later it was found that human fibroblasts with the P k phenotype were deficient in ␤-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase activity (5).…”