Pregnancy-maintaining antibodies: workshop report (Giessen, 1988).
To analyse the nature of antibodies which are purported to be essential for the maintenance of normal human pregnancy, six centers participated in a workshop of "blind" tests on 19 allosera. Fc-receptor dependent assays detected antibodies with specificity only for HLA. In addition to cytotoxic antibodies, the Fc-receptor dependent immune phagocytosis inhibition test revealed two non-cytotoxic alloantibodies with HLA specificity. These antibodies had high titers and may, therefore, be essentially non-cytotoxic. Murine monoclonal antibodies to HLA-A, B, C or DR (W6/32 and 2MC3) were used to evaluate the methods. These antibodies inhibited immune rosette formation as well as immune phagocytosis. Diluted to concentrations below the threshold of complement-dependent cytotoxicity, the monoclonal antibodies still inhibited the mixed lymphocyte reaction and the immune phagocytosis. A human monoclonal immunoglobulin M with specificity for monomorphic non-HLA lymphocyte antigens inhibited the mixed lymphocyte reaction. The immune rosette inhibition test exhibited several false positive reactions, e.g. three out of four with a serum that did not contain alloantibodies to blood cells. Non-cytotoxic antibodies were therefore rare in the selected sera of the workshop and they exhibited HLA specificity only. No participant was able to identify pregnancy-maintaining non-HLA-antibodies.
Institute of Clinical Immunology and Blood Transfusion, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, F.R.G.
J
J
Neppert
G
G
Mueller-Eckhardt
H
H
Neumeyer
R
R
Malchus
V
V
Kiefel
I
I
Gerhard
U
U
Kuhn
E
E
Westphal
J
J
Harpprecht
D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000628:therapy*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D007519:Isoantigens / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000276:immunology*; D012397:Rosette Formation
D006680:HLA Antigens; D007518:Isoantibodies; D007519:Isoantigens