Clinical significance of anti-At(a)

Vox Sanguinis
G RamseyG Garratty

Abstract

Ata is a high-frequency red blood cell (RBC) antigen. Anti-At(a) has been reported in rare At(a-) black subjects. We report two cases of anti-At(a). A clinically significant anti-At(a) was found in a 26-year-old black woman with systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient had a transfusion reaction with chills and nausea during a RBC survival study, and 95% of the radiolabeled At(a+) RBCs were destroyed within 3 h. A concurrently performed monocyte monolayer assay was strongly reactive. Anti-At(a) thus can cause rapid hemolysis of transfused RBCs, but At(a-) donor units are extremely scarce in rare donor registries. A second patient at our hospital had anti-At(a) which did not affect her newborn. She also had autoimmune disease, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

References

Nov 1, 1987·Transfusion·P L CulverC A Richter
Jul 1, 1973·Transfusion·M M GellermanM Stroup
Nov 1, 1967·Vox Sanguinis·F ApplewhaiteJ Gavin
Sep 1, 1967·Transfusion·A R RausenT E Cleghorn
Jan 1, 1983·Vox Sanguinis·A BrownR Berger
Aug 1, 1994·Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism·L MassardoS Rivero
Feb 1, 1994·Transfusion·G Ramsey, S J Smietana

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Autoimmune Diabetes & Tolerance

Patients with type I diabetes lack insulin-producing beta cells due to the loss of immunological tolerance and autoimmune disease. Discover the latest research on targeting tolerance to prevent diabetes.

Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases occur as a result of an attack by the immune system on the body’s own tissues resulting in damage and dysfunction. There are different types of autoimmune diseases, in which there is a complex and unknown interaction between genetics and the environment. Discover the latest research on autoimmune diseases here.