The highest Duffy (FYX) allele frequency ever reported for Scottish population: A cross‐sectional study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The Duffy (FY) blood group system has six known antigens among which the Fy(a) and Fy(b) are known as major antigens. Fy(x) phenotype forms as a result of two point mutations in the FYB allele leading to instability of Duffy protein and so reduction of Duffy antigen expression in the cells. This study aimed to investigate the FYX allele frequency in the Scottish population. METHODS: The Duffy blood group system was serologically and molecularly investigated in 222 samples collected from donors of Aberdeen Regional Blood Transfusion Center (BTC). The haemagglutination and BeadChip microarray chemistry methods were used for phenotyping and genotyping. Confirmatory tests were also used to check the discrepant results. RESULTS: In this study, the frequency of Duffy blood group phenotypes including Fy(a+), Fy(a+b+), and Fy(b+) were 17.57%, 42.79%, and 39.64%, respectively. Furthermore, the frequency of FYA/FYA, FYA/FYB, and FYB/FYB genotypes was estimated to be 14.41%, 45.95%, and 39.64%, respectively, using the Bioarray method. In the present study, based on Duffy DNA sequencing results, 12 samples (5.41%) had just one FYX allele. CONCLUSION: The frequency of the FYX allele in this study was estimated to be 0.0270% which is more than the results reported so far.