Question

Cats have type AA, BB, and AB blood; are the antigens the same as human antigens A and B? Basically, if you were to mix human type AB blood with cat type AB, without the white blood cells (as neither cat nor human RBCs have DNA), would it cause problems? (Not that I ever would mix the two, but hypothetically speaking.)

Answer 1

Define sameness.

The cat and human antigens are not identical proteins; they are homologous proteins which are very similar but which have both accumulated different mutations since their evolution from a shared ancestral form.

Yes, mixing the two would cause serious problems.