THE ABO BLOOD GROUP ANTIGENS AND THEIR SECRETION BY HEALTHY AND DISEASED GASTRIC MUCOSA

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Abstract
Summary: The water‐soluble blood group antigens are a part of the mucous secretions of the gastric mucosa. Current evidence indicates that they are glycoproteins with repeating oligosaccharide side chains attached to a protein or polypeptide core. Variability in their molecular weights and electrophoretic mobility suggests that they form a family of closely related structures. The basis for blood group specificity appears to lie in the sugars forming the free, terminal portion of the oligosaccharide side chains. Their secretion by the gastric mucosa, when measured by antigen titer or fucose content in unfractionated gastric secretion, appears to be unaffected by mucosal disease, but there are limitations in the interpretation of these results. Some potential applications of our knowledge about the blood group substances to studies on the “mucous barrier” are suggested.