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. 2023 Jun 5;12(6):803.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens12060803.

Babesia divergens Shows Equal Predilection for Human ABO Blood Types in an In Vitro Erythrocyte Preference Assay

Muyideen K Tijani  1   2 , Lena Danielsson  2   3 , Jill R Storry  4   5 , Martin L Olsson  4   5 , Kristina E M Persson  2   3
Affiliations

Babesia divergens Shows Equal Predilection for Human ABO Blood Types in an In Vitro Erythrocyte Preference Assay

Muyideen K Tijani et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Babesia is spread to humans via ticks or blood transfusions. Severity of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is strongly correlated to the ABO blood group of the patient. Babesia divergens is an intraerythrocytic parasite with many similarities to malaria, but the impact of ABO on the susceptibility to and progression of the infection in humans is unknown. We have now cultured B. divergens in human group A, B and O erythrocytes in vitro and measured rates of multiplication. The predilection for the different erythrocyte types was also determined using an in vitro erythrocyte preference assay when the parasites were grown in group A, B or O erythrocytes over time and then offered to invade differently stained erythrocytes of all the blood types at the same time. The results showed no difference in multiplication rates for the different blood types, and the parasite exhibited no obvious morphological differences in the different blood types. When cultured first in one blood type and then offered to grow in the others, the preference assay showed that there was no difference between the A, B or O blood groups. In conclusion, this indicates that individuals of the different ABO blood types are likely to be equally susceptible to B. divergens infections.

Keywords: ABO; Babesia divergens; blood type; preference assay.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagrammatic representation of the use of differently labelled RBCs in an in vitro preference assay.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Images of Giemsa-stained thin films of Babesia-infected bovine erythrocytes mixed with human blood groups A (A), B (B) and O (C). Human erythrocytes have already been infected at 48 h after inoculation. hRBC and bRBC—human RBC and bovine RBC, respectively. The bovine erythrocytes in these images were smaller (about 4 μm in diameter) than human erythrocytes (about 7 μm in diameter).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Images of Giemsa-stained thin films of Babesia-infected bovine erythrocytes mixed with human blood groups A (A), B (B) and O (C). Human erythrocytes have already been infected at 48 h after inoculation. hRBC and bRBC—human RBC and bovine RBC, respectively. The bovine erythrocytes in these images were smaller (about 4 μm in diameter) than human erythrocytes (about 7 μm in diameter).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Multiplication of a B. divergens isolate in different blood types when the parasites that were used to start the culture had been grown only in erythrocytes of blood group A (A), B (B) or O (C). The cultures lasted for about 96 h and parasitemia was determined every 48 h. The bars indicate standard errors of the mean. The parasites multiplied steadily in the different ABO types, and there were no differences in the times for the parasites to double their starting parasitemia in the different blood types (p = 0.60).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of median percentage proportions of labelled blood groups A, B and O invaded by a B. divergens isolate in a preference assay when the parasites that were used to start the assay had been grown only in blood group A (A), B (B) or O (C). The boxes represent the lower quartile, median and upper quartile values of percentage proportion of invaded cells. The whiskers represent the range. Comparison of median proportion of invaded cells via the Kruskal–Wallis test yielded no significant difference for all cases: A (p = 0.25), B (p = 0.88) and C (p = 0.78).
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