Grupos sanguíneos ABO e a suscetibilidade a doenças infecciosas

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the world population and concerns about the effect of this disease on individuals with genetic disorders, many of whom have systemic abnormalities, including impairment of the respiratory system, have become a concern. Scientific studies on the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with genetic disorders are still scarce. Blood groups are hereditary characteristics that vary between populations, probably due to natural selection. Studies have already shown a link between blood groups and susceptibility to infectious diseases, such as infection by Helicobacter pylori and Plasmodium falciparum. Blood group antigens can influence disease susceptibility by various mechanisms, being receptors or reference points for infectious organisms and modifiers of the immune system's response in the form of antiABO antibodies. Thus, this review aimed to discuss the association of the ABO system and infectious diseases with an emphasis on SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, scientific studies that looked at the role of the ABO system and susceptibility to infectious diseases were analyzed. For SARS, blood type O is less susceptible to SARS-CoV infection, being explained by the virus's affinity in binding to antigens A, B and H present in epithelial cells, which may interfere with the entry of the virus into the cell. As well as other infectious diseases that are related to the distribution of ABO blood groups and the susceptibility or resistance to these diseases, hepatitis C also has studies that seek to relate the virus infection to the blood group, which found a higher frequency of the disease in people with blood type A than in type O people. For the influenza virus, the association of the ABO system and the influenza infection are mainly based on the action of anti-A and anti-B antibodies. Although many studies have been conducted, the results are conflicting, suggesting even opposite effects with regard to the association of each blood group with a greater susceptibility to viral infection.