Study of secretors and non-secretors in normal healthy population – Its forensic implication in human identification

Blood group antigens A and B are not only confined to red cells but can be detected in other tissue cells and in body fluids. They have wide distribution and have been found in saliva, gastric juice, semen, ovarian cyst fluid, amniotic fluid and in smaller quantities in sweat,tears,bile,milk,urine etc [except CSF]. It has been established that, secretion of group specific substances is controlled by a pair of alleles Se and se. Thus, individuals can be homozygous [SeSe], heterozygous [Sese] or homozygous [sese]. The first 2 classes are called secretors and third class, non-secretor. Presence of blood and body fluids like saliva, semen etc on victims body provides important clue in crime investigation. A sample of saliva may be obtained from both the suspect as well as the victim in crimes to determine secretor status. The present study is done to determine the secretor status in 105 normal healthy subjects and to study the distribution of blood groups, secretors and non-secretors in normal healthy population, so that the knowledge of secretor status provides a useful tool in medicolegal cases for detection of suspected crime.