The Lutheran blood group system: a review

Abstract

At first sight, the Lutheran system would seem to have little interest to blood bankers. Lutheran antibodies are rarely, if ever, clinically relevant, although their identification has the potential to be enormously time-consuming. However, other complexities of this system are proving to be extraordinarily intricate. Genetically, the system appears to be composed of at least three closely linked loci, each with two alleles and, so far, 20 antigens, which have laid claim to at least an honorary affiliation.Two antigens, Lu10 and Lu15, have become obsolete.Three different interpretations of the genetic events leading to the Lu null phenotypes have been needed to accommodate the hereditary observations. The biochemistry of the cell membrane structures on which Lutheran antigenic activity resides is starting to be unravelled. Information about Lutheran has been accumulating for 50 years.This review will summarize what is known to date.