Genotyping for Scianna blood group system polymorphism in Pakistan.

Objective: To establish the occurrence of Scianna blood group alleles via genotyping in Pakistani blood donors. Study Design: Cross-sectional Analytical study. Setting: Department of Hematology, Army Medical College (AMC) in association with the Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT) Rawalpindi. Period: January 2019 and January 2020. Material & Methods: In this study 300 blood donors were incorporated after taking informed consent; DNA was extracted from their EDTA anticoagulated blood samples and tested for SC*01 and SC*02 alleles by Sequence-Specific Primer Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR-SSP), which was ensued by gel electrophoresis. The allele frequencies were established and Hardy Weinberg equilibrium was determined. Chi-square test was applied to compare the observed and expected genotype frequencies as well as for comparison with published allele frequencies of other populations. We used SPSS version 22 for the analysis of study data. Results: All donors were homozygous for SC*01, demonstrating allele frequency for SC*01 nearly 1.00. Genotype frequencies were congruent with the Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. The difference between the allele frequencies of SC*01 and SC*02 alleles of population of Pakistan was not statistically significant when compared to those of other populations. Conclusion: This maiden research illustrates Scianna blood group distribution in Pakistani community by PCR-SSP. This method is cheap and proficient and can be applied in developing nations. The findings of this study can aid in the production of local red cell panels, detection of uncommon blood types, and setting up of a domestic rare blood donor platform.