Frequency of ABH secretor status: a cross-sectional study in Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract The mucosa contains soluble antigens of the ABO blood group system. Secretor status as a trait has been linked to a variety of clinical diseases and is determined by the individual’s fucosyltransferase 2 (FUT2) allele. The distribution of secretor status in relation to ABO blood group phenotypes varies from region to region, with medicolegal significance. There is a dearth of information on the secretor status of the studied population. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the secretor status of the ABH in a Nigerian population. To achieve this, fresh saliva samples (~5 ml) were collected from 325 (181 males and 144 females) apparently healthy individuals in the urban city of Lagos. Secretor status was determined by haemagglutination inhibition test with the saliva samples of participants. Results showed that 85% of the participants were secretors and 15% were non-secretors with no statistically significant differences (p>0.05) between male and female gender. The frequencies of the Secretor, Se and Non-secretor, se genes were 0.543 and 0.457, respectively while the frequencies of the SeSe, Sese, and sese genotypes were 0.294, 0.496, and 0.209, respectively. The participants’ ABO blood group distributions were 65.5% group O, 16.6% group A, 15.1% group B, and 2.8% group AB. The incidence of secretors across blood group was 89% in group O, 85% in A, 79% in B and 67% in AB. However, there were no statistically significant variations in secretor status and ABO blood group (p>0.05). In conclusion, the study shows that there are more secretors than non-secretors, and the ability to secrete the ABH antigens are independent of ABO blood of individuals.