Prevalence and specificities of red cell alloantibodies among blood recipients in the Malaysian state of Kelantan

Abstract

Background:Red blood cell (RBC) alloantibodies may be formed following exposure to RBC antigens. In most cases, the alloimmunization develops during pregnancy or from previous blood transfusions. The RBC antigens and their alloantibodies vary among different human populations and ethnic groups, and they do have a clinical significance for their adverse immunological reactions.Aims:This study aimed at studying the prevalence of RBC alloantibodies at the Blood Transfusion Unit of Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II in Kota Bharu, Malaysia.Patients and Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed utilizing data obtained in the years 2007 and 2008. Data of antibody screening tests from 5719 patients were examined.Results and Discussion:The overall prevalence of alloimmunization was 65 (1.13%). The majority of these had a single alloantibody (76.9%), whereas the remaining 23.1% had multiple antibodies. The anti-E antibody comprised the most common alloantibody (24.6%) followed by the anti-Lewis (a) antibodies (18.5%) and the anti-M antibody (13.8%). There were more female recipients than males.Conclusions:It was concluded that the findings of this work have been comparable with other published works, and that the main factors associated with alloantibody formation were multiple transfusions and pregnancies. The study also emphasizes the necessity for carrying out immunohematology studies prior to every blood transfusion especially in cases that require multiple transfusions for a long period of time such as in thalassemia patients.

Clinical significance of antibody specificities to M, N and Lewis blood group system

“…Others have reported the prevalence of anti-Le a to be in the range of 3.68-24.6%[672627] and that of anti-Le b to be between 1.21 and 14.3%,[672728] which is relatively high as compared to our data.…”

“…[2] In our study, 8.22% of detected antibodies were of anti-M specificity and 2.96% were anti-N. Various authors report the prevalence of anti-M to be ranging from 3.6% to 13.8%,[4567] whereas frequency of anti-N is reported to be in the range of 0.87-1.47%. [68] Our study reported majority (84%) of anti-M and 77.78% of anti-N to be of IgG class or possessing an IgG component reacting at 37°C and hence, potentially clinically significant.…”

Frequency and Specificity of Red Blood Cell Alloimmunization in Chilean Transfused Patients

“…The alloimmunization frequency detected in transfused patients was 1.02%. A similar frequency was reported in Malaysia in a group of 5,719 patients, with an overall prevalence of 1.13% [7]. In the Costa Rican population, the frequency was 1.93% [8].…”

Presence of Irregular Antibody (Anti-c) in a Multitransfused Cardiac Surgery Patient

“…Its prevalence among alloantibodies detected in patients has been reported to range from 3.1 to 17.5 % [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Like most of Rh antibodies, anti-c also belongs to Ig G class of immunoglobulins and is an important cause of hemolytic transfusion reaction, more so in DHTR [9].…”