H-deficient Bombay and para-Bombay red blood cells are most strongly agglutinated by the galactophilic lectins of Aplysia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that detect I and P1 antigens

The galactophilic lectins Aplysia gonad lectin (AGL) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin (PA-IL), which detect human I and P1 RBC antigens, were examined for hemagglutination of H+ (group O and B) and H-deficient (Bombay and para-Bombay phenotype) RBCs. The results were compared with those obtained using two other galactophilic lectins, Maclura pomifera lectin (MPL) and Arachis bypogaea (peanut) agglutinin (PNA), which share T-antigen affinity, and two fucose-binding H-specific lectins, Ulex europaeus (UEA-I) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin (PA-IIL), as well as with those achieved with anti-I serum. The results revealed that, in contrast to UEA-I and PA-IIL, which preferentially agglutinated H+ RBCs, and to MPL and PNA, which similarly agglutinated all examined RBCs, AGL, PA-IL, and the anti-I serum agglutinated the H-deficient RBCs more strongly than did the H+ RBCs. These findings could be attributed to increased levels of I and P1 antigens on those RBCs resulting from the use of the free common H-type 2 precursor for their synthesis. Since both PA-IL and PA-IIL are regarded as potential pathogen adhesins, it would be interesting to statistically compare the sensitivities of individuals of H+ and H-deficient RBC populations to P. aeruginosa infections.