Red Cell Antigens and Antibodies. 2022

Christine Lomas-Francis, and Connie M Westhoff
Immunohematology Laboratory, New York Blood Center Enterprises, New York Blood Center, 45-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA. Electronic address: clomas-francis@nybc.org.

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is caused by the production of "warm-" or "cold-" reactive autoantibodies directed against RBC antigens that may be of undefined specificity, reacting with all RBCs tested or may have an apparent specificity. Autoantibodies may be of IgG, IgM, or rarely IgA isotypes and their production can be triggered by disease, viral infection, or drugs; from breakdown in immune system tolerance to self-antigens; or from exposure to foreign antigens that induce antibodies that cross-react with self-RBC antigens. Increasingly, AIHA is being reported in patients following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and treatment with anti-cancer checkpoint inhibitors. Autoantibodies, whatever their etiology, interfere with pretransfusion testing of patients requiring RBCs transfusion making compatibility testing complex and labor-intensive. The availability of extended antigen typing by DNA-based assay has made transfusion of RBCs that are selected based on the patient's extended phenotype (e.g., D, C, E, e, K, Jka, Jkb, Fya, Fyb, S and s) a feasible option and this can provide a significant measure of safety as they avoid the patient being immunized to antigens absent from their RBCs.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D001803 Blood Transfusion The introduction of whole blood or blood component directly into the blood stream. (Dorland, 27th ed) Blood Transfusions,Transfusion, Blood,Transfusions, Blood
D004912 Erythrocytes Red blood cells. Mature erythrocytes are non-nucleated, biconcave disks containing HEMOGLOBIN whose function is to transport OXYGEN. Blood Cells, Red,Blood Corpuscles, Red,Red Blood Cells,Red Blood Corpuscles,Blood Cell, Red,Blood Corpuscle, Red,Erythrocyte,Red Blood Cell,Red Blood Corpuscle
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000744 Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune Acquired hemolytic anemia due to the presence of AUTOANTIBODIES which agglutinate or lyse the patient's own RED BLOOD CELLS. Anemia, Hemolytic, Idiopathic Acquired,Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemia,Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Cold Agglutinin Disease,Hemolytic Anemia, Autoimmune,Acquired Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Anemia, Hemolytic, Cold Antibody,Cold Antibody Disease,Cold Antibody Hemolytic Anemia,Idiopathic Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Agglutinin Disease, Cold,Anaemia, Autoimmune Haemolytic,Anemia, Autoimmune Hemolytic,Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemias,Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemias,Cold Agglutinin Diseases,Cold Antibody Diseases,Haemolytic Anaemia, Autoimmune
D001323 Autoantibodies Antibodies that react with self-antigens (AUTOANTIGENS) of the organism that produced them. Autoantibody

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