Will transplantation of kidneys from donors with blood group A2 into recipients with blood group B help British Indo-Asian patients with renal failure?
Despite a high incidence of renal failure, disproportionately fewer Indo-Asians in the United Kingdom receive a renal transplant, in part because of the high prevalence of blood group B. It is now clear that it is possible to safely transplant kidneys from donors with blood group A of the subtype A2 into recipients with blood group B if the latter have low titers of anti-A antibodies. We measured the anti-A titers in 25 Indo-Asian patients on dialysis being considered for transplantation and found stably low titers in all. Titers were comparable to those found in a control white population with blood group B. In addition, in a complement-dependent cytotoxicity crossmatch against group A lymphocytes, the only positive results were obtained in those with high preexisting panel reactivity (i.e., because of the presence of preformed anti-human leukocyte antigen antibodies). We conclude that there are grounds for investigating this approach further to solve the ethnic disparity in rates of transplantation.
Haji
Naeemah I
NI
Renal Section, Division of Medicine, Hammersmith Campus, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
Nelson
Ruth E
RE
Jones
Mark N A
MN
Johnson
Rachel J
RJ
De Silva
Mahes
M
Malde
Ranjan
R
Warrens
Anthony N
AN
D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D044466:Asian People; D001787:Blood Group Incompatibility; D004739:England / Q000208:ethnology; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000097:blood* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000601:surgery; D014019:Tissue Donors
D000017:ABO Blood-Group System