Researchers at the University of Vermont have made a discovery that could save the lives of  thousands of people. They've identified two new blood types called Langereis and Junior. They revealed their findings in the February issue of Nature Genetics.

A patient being able to know whether or not they have one of the two rare blood types could be the difference between life and death when it comes to organ transplants and blood transfusions. According to researcher Bryan Ballif,  complications from Langereis and Junior blood types are uncommon, but certain ethnicities such as the Japanese have an increased risk.

“Very few people learn if they are Langereis or Junior positive or negative,” says Ballif, according to the University of Vermont.


The molecular peculiarities that identified Langereis and Junior blood types have eluded scientists for years, but now that  Ballif and his team have pinned down the proteins that identify them, it becomes much easier for doctors to recognize patients with one of the two types.

A report from the University of Vermont Communications Department explains the particularities of their discovery:


The newly discovered proteins could have meaning for more people than just those with the Langereis or Junior blood types: both have been identified with anticancer drug resistance, which could have implications for improved cancer treatment.

The team is continuing to research new blood types.

“We’re following up on more unknown blood types,” says Ballif. “There are probably on the order of 10 to 15 more of these unknown blood type systems — where we know there is a problem but we don’t know what the protein is that is causing the problem.”

Source: University of Vermont Communications