Vel system: molecular Screening using DNA obtained from plasma pools of blood donors

Abstract

Patients on chronic transfusion regime, has a high rate of alloimmunization erythrocyte, which is associated with tranfusionais hemolytic reactions. When there is formation of multiple alloantibodies or alloantibodies against high population frequency antigens, only donors with rare or unusual blood phenotypes can meet these receptors. The search for these donors may be performed by serological or molecular methods. In this sphere, genotyping technique for real-time DNA pools is a promising strategy due to operational optimization, the accuracy of the results and the low cost of the reaction.This project aims to screen DNA samples from blood donors obtained from plasma pools (six donors per pool) using the PCR technology in real time to detect carriers of polymorphisms encoding the rare phenotype negative Vel, antigen high frequency of clinical importance in practice transfusion. DNA samples extracted will be used for the realization of NAT testing for HIV and HCV research, which is required by Brazilian law and whose extracted material is discarded after achieving this.Population studies estimate the frequency of negative Vel individuals than 1 in 4,000 in Europe and slightly higher in northern Scandinavia, 1 in 1,700 (Storry et al, 2013). In Brazil, this frequency is not known.