Research progress of techniques of blood grouping for red blood cells

Blood grouping is one of the methods to confirm red blood cell grouping. For over a century, the hemagglutination of red blood cells has been the main method for blood phenotyping in clinical practices. With the development of molecular diagnostic techniques, there are many genotyping methods used in red blood cell grouping now, such as polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), PCR-sequence specific primer (SSP), multiple PCR, PCR-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), DNA sequencing and gene chip and so on. Compared with serology, the new techniques of blood grouping for red blood cells based on genotype may be more advantageous in throughput, time-consumption and cost. This review will summarize the techniques of blood grouping for red blood cells, aiming at providing a systematic knowledge of blood grouping techniques for clinicians. Key words: Blood grouping and crossmatching; Genotyping; Molecular diagnostic techniques