Association of the ABO blood group with certain human diseases

Following the discovery of ABO blood group over 100 years ago, a variety of studies sought to determine whether different disease states are influenced by ABO inheritance. As oligosaccharide antigens, ABO blood group antigens are widely expressed on the membrane of red blood cells and tissue cells, as well as in the saliva and body fluid. It is by far the most important blood group system in human immunohematology and transfusion medicine. While, other than determining blood group phenotype, accumulating evidence indicates that ABO blood group is implicated in the development of a number of human diseases. This review mainly focuses on the associ-ation between ABO blood group and cardiovascular system risk, corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), affective disorders, allergic diseases, as well as cancers.