title: Histo-blood group antigens as allo- and autoantigens.
abstract: The science of blood groups has made giant steps forward during the last decade. Blood-group typing of red blood cells (RBCs) is performed on more than 15 million samples per year in Europe, today much less often for forensic reasons than for clinical purposes such as transfusion and organ transplantation. Specific monoclonal antibodies are used with interpretation on the basis of RBC agglutination patterns, and mass genotyping may well be on its way to becoming a routine procedure. The discovery that most blood group systems, whose antigens are by definition found on RBCs, are also expressed in multiple other tissues has sparked the interest of transplantation medicine in immunohematology beyond the HLA system. The one and only "histo-blood group" (HBG) system that is routinely considered in transplantation medicine is ABO, because ABO antigen-incompatible donor/recipient constellations are preferably avoided. However, other HBG systems may also play a role, thus far underestimated. This paper is an up-to-date analysis of the importance of HBG systems in the alloimmunity of transplantation and autoimmune events, such as hemolytic anemia.
authors: Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, Inselspital, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. urs.nydegger@insel.ch
authors: Urs E
authors: UE
authors: Nydegger
authors: Hendrik
authors: H
authors: Tevaearai
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Berdat
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Rieben
authors: Thierry
authors: T
authors: Carrel
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Mohacsi
authors: Willy A
authors: WA
authors: Flegel
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000276:immunology; D000744:Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / Q000276:immunology; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000276:immunology; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D001787:Blood Group Incompatibility / Q000276:immunology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007519:Isoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D001324:Autoantigens; D001789:Blood Group Antigens; D007519:Isoantigens