title: [Recent advance on blood group antigen modification of porcine erythrocytes].
abstract: Advances in the field of xenotransplantation raise the intriguing possibility of using porcine red blood cells (pRBCs) as an alternative source for blood transfusion. Serologically, pRBCs share a number of characteristics with human red blood cells (RBCs), so pRBCs are considered the most likely donor for xenotransfusion. However, xenoantigens on porcine erythrocytes play major roles in antibody-mediated RBC destruction. Although the alphaGal epitope (Galalpha1, 3Galbeta1, 4GalNAc-R) is the major xenoantigen on porcine erythrocytes and is responsible for the binding of the majority of human natural antibodies, other non-alphaGal xenoantigens have been identified. The importance of these non-alphaGal xenoantigens in binding human natural antibodies and subsequently triggering immunological responses cannot be underestimated.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
authors.forename: Jie-Xi
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yang-Pei
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion / Q000379:methods*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D013552:Swine; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001789:Blood Group Antigens