Custom Anti-Blood Group Antigens Antibody Service for Transfusion & Cancer Research

Overview Blood Group Systems Challenges Services Applications Related Services Supports

Blood Group Antigen Overview

Blood group antigens are fundamental to human biology. These complex molecules are not only found on our red blood cells; they are also present in tissues and cells throughout the body. Their study is critical. It impacts everything from safe blood transfusions to understanding how cancer spreads. To drive this research, you need tools of incredible precision. You need antibodies that can see one specific molecule in a complex biological system. Creative Biolabs specializes in developing custom anti-blood group antigen antibody solutions. We create high-specificity, high-affinity antibodies tailored precisely to your research needs. Whether you are studying transfusion compatibility, mapping inflammatory pathways, or targeting tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens, our team provides the critical reagents to power your next discovery.

Service Overview: Your Partner for Difficult Glycan Targets

We offer a comprehensive, end-to-end custom antibody development service. Our expert team overcomes the challenges of carbohydrate immunogenicity to deliver high-affinity, high-specificity antibodies against any blood group antigen.

Platforms: Hybridoma & Phage Display
Targets: A, B, H, Lewis, P, and other TACA targets
Output: Validated, application-ready antibodies (IgG, IgM, scFv, Fab)

What Is a Blood Group Antigen?

A blood group antigen is a molecule on the surface of cells. When this molecule is introduced into a person who lacks it, it can trigger an immune response, resulting in the production of antibodies. While most people are familiar with the A, B, and O blood types, there are actually 43 recognized blood group systems, each containing over 340 different antigens. The most famous blood group antigens—like A, B, H, Lewis, and P—are not proteins. They are complex sugars, also known as carbohydrates or glycans. These glycans are built step-by-step by specific enzymes. Your DNA provides the instructions for these enzymes. A slight change in an enzyme's instructions can lead to a different glycan structure on the cell surface. This genetic variation is what creates the different blood groups. These antigens are often attached to proteins (forming glycoproteins) or fats (forming glycolipids) that are embedded in the cell membrane. This makes them a key part of the cell's outer landscape.

A schematic diagram illustrating the glycan structures of human blood group antigens, including types A, B, H, and Lewis, and their modified sialylated forms. (OA Literature) Fig.1 Structures of human blood group antigens.¹

Major Blood Group Systems for Research

While many systems exist, a few are central to transfusion and disease research. Our custom antibody services can target antigens from all major systems.

System	Key Antigens	Biochemical Nature	Key Research Area
ABO(H)	A Antigen, B Antigen, H Antigen	Fucosylated Glycans	Transfusion Medicine, Cancer
Lewis	Le^a, Le^b, Le^X, Le^Y, sLe^X, sLe^a	Fucosylated Glycans	Cancer, Inflammation, Stem Cells
P	P1, P, P^k	Glycosphingolipids	Infectious Disease, Transfusion

The ABO and H Systems

This is the most critical system in transfusion medicine.

H Antigen: This is the precursor, the foundation upon which A and B antigens are built. People with the O blood type have a high amount of the H antigen.
A Antigen: An enzyme adds a specific sugar (GalNAc) to the H antigen, creating the A antigen.
B Antigen: A different enzyme adds another sugar (Galactose) to the H antigen, creating the B antigen.
O Type: These individuals lack functional enzymes to build A or B, so their cells only express the H antigen.

Your research may require a highly specific anti-A antigen antibody, an anti-B antigen antibody, or even an anti-H antigen antibody. We can develop custom monoclonals that distinguish between these closely related structures.

The Lewis System

The Lewis antigens are fascinating because they are not directly built onto the red blood cell. They are produced by tissue cells, secreted into the plasma, and then passively adsorb onto the red blood cell surface. They are also highly expressed on epithelial cells. The Lewis system includes several critical antigens:

Lewis a
Lewis b
Lewis X: Also known as SSEA-1, this is a famous marker in developmental biology and stem cell research.
Lewis Y
Sialyl Lewis X: This is a modified version of Lewis X. It is the primary ligand for selectins, proteins that control cell rolling during inflammation.
Sialyl Lewis a: Also known as CA19-9, this is a well-known tumor marker.

We have extensive expertise in developing antibodies for this system, including anti-Lewis X, anti-Lewis Y, and anti-sialyl Lewis X antibody variants.

The P Blood Group System

This system is built on a different carbohydrate core (the globosides). It includes antigens like P1, P, and Pk. The P antigen (also known as globoside or Gb4) is the receptor for Parvovirus B19, which causes erythema infectiosum, commonly referred to as fifth disease. We can develop a custom anti-P antigen antibody to aid in your study of these interactions.

Custom Anti-Globoside (Gb3/Gb4) Antibody Service

The Challenge: Why Standard Antibodies Often Fail

Targeting carbohydrate antigens is one of the most challenging tasks in the development of antibodies. This is why a custom, expert-driven approach is necessary.

Problem 1: Low Immunogenicity: Sugars are "T-cell independent" antigens. This means they do not create a strong, lasting immune response (like proteins do). It is tough to get an animal's immune system to produce high-affinity IgG antibodies against them.
Problem 2: Extreme Cross-Reactivity: Carbohydrate structures are very similar. The A and B antigens differ by only a single sugar molecule. The Le^X and sLe^X antigens are also nearly identical. An off-the-shelf antibody may bind to multiple targets, compromising the specificity of your data.
Problem 3: The Need for Application-Specific Tools: An antibody that works for ELISA may not work for immunohistochemistry or flow cytometry. Researchers often need specific formats or isotypes that are not commercially available.

A generic anti-carbohydrate antigen antibody is not enough. You need an antibody engineered for your target and your application.

Discuss Your Project

Our Service: A Complete Custom Antibody Solution

We overcome these challenges by combining decades of expertise in glycobiology with state-of-the-art antibody engineering. Our custom blood group antigen antibody service is a comprehensive and collaborative process built on three key parts.

The Core of Our Expertise: Antigen Design & Validation

The success of an anti-carbohydrate antibody depends entirely on strategy.

Expert Antigen Design: A great antibody starts with a great antigen. We cannot just inject a simple sugar. We design and synthesize complex neoglycoconjugates. This involves chemically linking your target carbohydrate to a large, immunogenic carrier protein (like KLH or BSA). This forces the immune system to recognize the sugar. We can also work with whole cells, purified glycolipids, or other formats.
Rigorous Validation: A binder is not an antibody. We ensure your final product works. We test your antibody against a broad panel of related glycans using glycan microarrays. This confirms it does not cross-react. We also perform application-specific validation methods (e.g., ELISA, IHC, FC, and more) to ensure purity and consistency.

Powerful Development Platforms

We select the best platform to build your specific tool.

Monoclonal Antibody Development (Hybridoma):

This is the classic, reliable method for generating robust monoclonal antibodies. Firstly, we use our optimized neoglycoconjugates and proprietary adjuvant/immunization schedules to get the strongest possible immune response. Then we perform the fusion and screening process: we create hybridomas and perform large-scale screening to find clones that bind only to your target of interest. Before delivery, we will validate the lead clones against a panel of related and unrelated glycans to guarantee specificity.

Phage Display Antibody Library Screening

This is a powerful in vitro method that circumvents the need for animal immunization. It is ideal for challenging targets or when a non-animal-derived antibody is required. We use our massive, natural, pre-built, or synthetic antibody libraries (billions of unique variants). Then we screen this library against your target antigen. The antibodies that bind are isolated, and the non-binders are washed away. After several rounds, we isolate ultra-specific binders. We can then mature these in vitro to have even higher affinity. This platform is perfect for isolating antibody fragments like scFv or Fab directly.

Hybridoma vs. Phage Display for Anti-Glycan Antibodies

Feature	Hybridoma Development	Phage Display Screening
Source	Animal (e.g., Mouse, Rabbit, Camel, and more)	In vitro Library (e.g., Human, Synthetic)
Immunogenicity	Relies on animal immune response	Bypasses the biological immune system
Best For...	Traditional, robust mAbs (IgG, IgM)	Challenging targets, fragments (scFv, Fab)
Pros	High-affinity, in vivo matured antibodies	Fast, targets non-immunogenic molecules
Cons	It can be difficult for low-immunogenicity targets	May require further affinity maturation

Full-Scale Production and Reformatting

Once your perfect clone is validated, we scale it up and deliver it in the format you need.

Recombinant Production: We sequence the antibody and produce it recombinantly in mammalian cells. This ensures 100% lot-to-lot consistency, forever.
Isotype Switching: Need a human IgG1 for a pre-clinical model? Or a mouse IgG2a for a specific secondary? We can change the antibody's backbone.
Conjugation: We can directly conjugate your antibody to biotin, FITC, PE, or other labels for direct use in your assays.

Applications for Your Custom Anti-Blood Group Antigen Antibody

Our service provides the enabling tools for high-impact research.

Cancer Biology

Develop an anti-Lewis Y antibody to study tumor cell signaling.
Create a blocking anti-sialyl Lewis X antibody to inhibit metastasis in animal models.
Map the expression of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens in tissue samples.

Transfusion Science

Create novel blood typing antibodies for identifying rare blood groups.
Develop research-grade antibodies to study antibody-antigen interactions in hemolytic disease.

Immunology & Glycobiology

Generate a highly specific anti-Lewis X antibody (anti-SSEA-1) to isolate and study stem cells.
Produce functional antibodies to explore the role of glycans in cell-cell recognition.

Infectious Disease Research

Create a high-affinity anti-P antigen antibody to study Parvovirus B19 entry.
Develop blocking antibodies against the H or Lewis antigens to investigate Norovirus or H. pylori infection.

Related Services

Service	Description
Anti-Sulfatide Antibody Development	Develops specific antibodies against sulfatides, a class of sulfated glycolipids involved in nervous system function and demyelinating diseases.
Anti-Galactocerebroside Antibody Development	Focuses on creating antibodies to detect galactocerebroside (GalC), a major component of the myelin sheath and a key marker for neurological conditions.
Anti-Globoside Antibody Development	Provides custom antibodies against globosides (e.g., Gb3, Gb4), which are important glycosphingolipid targets in cancer and Fabry disease research.
Anti-Ganglioside Antibody Development	A specialized service for developing antibodies against complex gangliosides (like GM1, GD2, GM3), which are critical targets in oncology and neurobiology.

Do not let the challenges of glycobiology slow down your research. Working with blood group antigens requires a specialist's touch, and our team is ready to be your partner. We deliver more than just blood group antigen products; we provide fully customized, validated, and publication-ready antibody reagents. Tell us your target. Tell us your application. We will handle the complex science of creating the antibody you need. Contact our team of Ph.D.-level specialists to discuss your project and receive a no-obligation quote.

Reference:

Mironov, Alexander A., et al. "Mechanisms of Formation of Antibodies against Blood Group Antigens That Do Not Exist in the Body." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24.20 (2023): 15044. Distributed under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242015044

Supports

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.