ASSOCIATION OF SOME BLOOD GROUP PHENOTYPES WITH DIFFERENT LEUKAEMIAS IN PATIENTS ATTENDING TERTIARY HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN KANO AND KATSINA STATES

ABSTRACT

Leukemia is a neoplasm of haemopoietic precursor cells which result in either collection of blasts in the bone marrow or generation of abnormal blood cells. Blood group antigens have been linked with infections and diseases etiology. However, not much has been studied on the association between the blood types especially the rare types and leukaemia in this part of the world. This research therefore explored the association of some blood group phenotypes with different leukaemias among subjects in North-Western Nigeria. A total of 100 leukaemic subjects (age: 31.3±21.1 years, male/female ratio: 1.1:1) were studied with 100 healthy blood donors (controls) with mean ages of 29.5±6.0 years and male/female ratio: 1.7:1. Leukaemia was diagnosed using the clinical and cytological criteria in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH). The blood groups were determined using Tube technique for ABO, Rh-D, Lewis, Duffy and MNS while Rh C, E, c, e and Kell by Gel method. The Antisera and Gel cards were obtained from Lorne Laboratories in the United Kingdom. All the techniques were according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Data was presented as tables and figures and analysed using SPSS (version 25.0). Association of some blood groups and leukaemias were determined using Chi-square test while Relative Risk (RR) and Odds Ratio (OR) were used to ascertain their risk values. The percentage distribution patterns for leukaemia are as follows; Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) 38.0% >acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) 25.0% >acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) 21.0% while chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) 16.0% had least prevalence. The age distributions of leukaemia vary significantly (P< 0.05, respectively) among different types. With exception of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), all other leukaemias (CML, AML and ALL) had male gender predominance. Majority of the leukaemic subjects were Hausas: 85%, while the remaining were Yorubas: 10%, and Igbos made last with just 5%. The results showed that B, C, e, Le^a, K and M antigens were significantly associated with CML(OR: 0.18,3.38,0.09,4.80,33.30 and 5.34 respectively) while Le^a, Le^b, K and M antigens were significantly associated with AML(OR: 4.75,7.11,11.29 and 7.67). Only Le^a antigen was expressed significantly in both CLL and ALL (OR: 13.0 and 8.50 respectively). Upon combining all the leukaemia types, statistically significant associations were observed in B, C, e, Le^a, Le^b, Fy^b, K, M and N antigens. We conclude that individuals with Rhesus antigen C, Lewis antigens (Le^a and Le^b),Kell antigen (K), M antigen may have increased risk of developing leukaemia especially CML while individuals with ABO antigen B, Rhesus e antigen and antigen N may have lesser risks of developing leukaemias.