Jorge Lobo's disease is a mycosis with chronic evolution caused by the fungus Lacazia loboi. The mechanisms involved in host resistance and susceptibility to the agent, including aspects relating to the genetic background, are still not clear. The objective of the present study, therefore, is to evaluate the ABO and Lewis blood group distributions in Jorge Lobo's disease patients compared to the general population. Thirteen patients from Acre state, 60 healthy individuals (Lewis control group) from the region of Bauru (SP) and 2673 blood donors from the blood bank of the city of Rio Branco (Ac) were analyzed. Presence of erythrocitic antigens was determined by the tube agglutination reaction using anti-AB, anti-A and anti-B sera for ABO phenotyping. Anti Lewis a and anti Lewis b sera were used for Lewis phenotyping. The Lewis and ABO phenotypic frequencies in patients and controls were respectively: Le (a- b+) = 54.0% vs. 72.0%; Le (a+ b-) = 15.0% vs. 6.0%; Le (a- b-) = 31.0% vs. 22.0%; A =15.4% vs. 33.6%; B = 30.8% vs. 10.8%; O = 53.8% vs. 52.9%; AB = 0 vs. 2.7%. Although the statistical analysis in this study did not evidence any significant difference, our results suggest that phenotype B and Lewis b, at a lesser frequency, could be associated with susceptibility of Jorge Lobo's disease thus demonstrating that this population has a higher risk of developing this mycosis.
Jorge Lobo's disease; ABO phenotype; Lewis phenotype
