A STUDY OF NATURALLY OCCURRING ANTIBODY TITRE : INHERITANCE AND CORRELATION WITH AGE, SEX AND CASTE
SURAKSHA DEVI AGARWAL *
Department of Medicine, Genetics Unit, King George’s Medical College, Lucknow (India)
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Blood group antibody levels are measured in 11,260 male subjects and 819 females ranging in age group of 18-55 years. Mean levels of anti-A are found to be significantly higher than that of anti-B. Levels of these antibodies are raised in group-O individuals. Females show significantly higher antibody levels when compared to males. The ethnic variation of antibody levels have been studied. Levels of anti-A and anti-B register a decline with age in the age range under consideration. The study of inheritance of naturally occurring anti-A and anti-B isoagglutinins has been attempted. Hereditibility estimates show that the role of heredity is about 2-3 times more than that of environment.
Keywords: Blood group antibodyl evels, Ethnic variation, Heritability estimates