Regulation of blood group gene expression by miRNAs

To determine the miRNA expression pattern in RBCs, we isolated miRNA from RBCs of healthy blood donors, who were homozygous or heterozygous carriers of different AB0 blood groups. We first analyzed miRNA expression by microarray chip analysis. In average, we found 873 miRNAs to be present in RBCs with a partially differential expression pattern depending on the blood group genotype. 148 out of these 873 miRNAs were significantly up- or downregulated in RBCs of blood group 0 and of heterozygous genotypes, as compared to homozygous genotypes. For each blood group genotype erythrocyte concentrates of three different donors were used for microarray analysis.