Antigen matching for transfusion support in Brazilian female patients with sickle cell disease to reduce RBC alloimmunization.

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization is a complication of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and it has a greater impact on pregnancy, leading to a risk of hemolytic disease of the newborn and reducing blood availability for pregnant women. This study proposed to evaluate antigen matching transfusion protocols, aiming to reduce RBC alloimmunization in Brazilian female patients with SCD.

Methods: Samples from female patients with SCD (153) and self-declared Afro-Brazilian donors (307) were genotyped for RBC antigens and RH variants were investigated.

Correlation among automated scores of agglutination, antigen density by flow cytometry and genetics of D variants.

Background: Laboratory testing to identify the molecular basis of serologic weak D phenotypes is recommended to determine whether a pregnant woman or potential transfusion recipient should be managed as RhD-positive or RhD-negative. The variation in D antigen expression on RBCs, different potencies of anti-D typing reagents, lack of standardized test methods, and the subjectivity of interpreting agglutination reactions complicate the detection of D variants. We evaluated the correlation of agglutination scores by an automated immunoassay analyzer with D antigen densities determined by flow cytometry, and D variant types identified by molecular analysis.