The Role of Lectins in Blood Group Serology

Abstract

The word lectin comes from the Latin legere, meaning to pick out or to choose. Boyd and Shapleigh¹ originally applied the term to define those saline extracts of seeds that preferentially agglutinate red cells of a particular blood group phenotype. The term “phytohemagglutinin” has been used to describe those plant seed agglutinins that display no blood group specificity, and Prokop, Uhlenbruck, and Kohler² have suggested that the word “protectin” be used to distinguish the blood group reactive hemagglutinins found in molluscs and lower vertebrates from those of plant origin.