title: Quantitation and characterization of anti-Galalpha1-3Gal antibodies in sera of 200 healthy persons.
abstract: The natural occurrence of complement-activating anti-Galalpha1-3Gal antibodies (anti-Gal) in human serum is considered as a major obstacle to xenotransplantation. In this study we determined anti-Gal in sera of 200 healthy volunteers (100 male, 100 female) of different age groups using an IgG- and IgM-isotype specific ELISA. In addition, we used a direct hemagglutination test involving rabbit erythrocytes (E(R)), which are known for abundant surface expression of the Galalpha1-3Gal antigen. The measured arbitrary ELISA units (U) for anti-Gal ranged from 5 to 204 U (77+/-47; mean +/- 1 SD) for IgM, and from 1 to 162 U(73+/-32) for IgG. Anti-E(R) hemagglutination titers were between 1: 65536 and 1: 64 (mean 1: 703), with 75% of all serum samples being in the range of 1: 8192-1: 512. Specificity of the tests was determined by immunoabsorption of anti-Gal on Sepharose-coupled synthetic Galalpha1-3Gal antigen, which reduced ELISA as well as agglutination titers by 90% or more. Overall, inter-individual differences of both anti-Gal ELISA values and E(R) agglutination titers exceeded age-, gender-, or ABO-type related changes. A tendency was found to higher anti-Gal IgM values in women than in men (P < 0.005 by Student's t-test), whereas the gender-difference for anti-Gal IgG or E(R) titers was not significant. Application of the anti-Gal ELISA as well as the E(R) agglutination assay for pre-transplant screening of potential pig xenograft recipients is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Regional Red Cross Blood Transfusion Center, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buonomano
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinguely
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rieben
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mohacsi
authors.forename: U E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Nydegger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000910:Antibodies, Heterophile / Q000097:blood*; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D011817:Rabbits; D014181:Transplantation Immunology; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D000910:Antibodies, Heterophile; D004187:Disaccharides; D000939:Epitopes; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C055075:galactosyl-(1-3)galactose