French scientists recently reported on a new method to quickly provide extended blood group typing for donated blood, an advance that should help us better match donors with recipients. The new test, called HiFi-Blood 96, is being commercialized by AXO Science, a spin-off company of the Institut de Chimie et Biochimie Moléculaires et Supramoléculaires ICBMS.
From the statement issued by the American Chemical Society:
Most blood currently is typed for only a few of the 29 known human blood groups, even though some rare blood groups can affect the outcome of a transfusion. Commercial technology does exist for extended typing with DNA tests. However, it is expensive, difficult to use, and suited more for research labs than high-volume blood centers, they state. Wide adoption of extended blood group typing, they note, requires a test that can handle the high volume of blood processed each year — 14 million donations in the United States, for instance, and 20 million in Europe.
The study describes evaluation of the new more affordable method, called the HiFi Blood 96, which types blood with DNA testing in a high-speed automated procedure. Tests on 293 human blood samples demonstrated the performance and reliability of the new method. The report compares HiFi Blood 96 to existing commercial tests, and discusses improvements that are underway.
Abstract in Analytical Chemistry: Robust, High-Throughput Solution for Blood Group Genotyping