Bullet Learning: Duffy Antigens
Updated: Nov 23, 2023
Last year I had a patient with anti-Fya, Fyb, and Fy3 antibodies. Don’t know what that means? Let’s learn together in this bullet learning entry.
Initially discovered in the 1950s, the Duffy blood group (abbreviated as Fy) consists of 6 antigens on a transmembrane protein/cytokine receptor. These antigens are Fya, Fyb, Fy3, Fy4, Fy5, and Fy6. The latter three - Fy4, Fy5, and Fy6 - are considered clinically insignificant.
This protein also facilitates malaria infection, and absence of Duffy antigens is associated with resistance. As you can imagine, patients from areas with endemic malaria are more likely to be Duffy negative.
This is a problem in the US, as most of our blood supply is from Caucasians, who are more likely to be Duffy positive. This particularly impacts patients with sickle cell disease in the US. They are more likely to be of African American descent, be Duffy negative, and have difficulty obtaining appropriate blood. What a great argument for diversity in our blood donor supply!
In the case of our patient, we were able to source Fya, Fyb, Fy3 negative blood. But the search was difficult, and treatment was delayed.
Please take a moment and consider donating blood. See this link to find a blood donor center near you! https://americasblood.org/for-donors/find-a-blood-center/
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