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.

Purification and characterization of a second type of neutral ceramidase from rat brain: a second more hydrophobic form of rat brain ceramidase.

Ceramidases (CDase) are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of N-acyl linkage of ceramide (Cer) to generate sphingosine and free fatty acids. In this study we report the purification and characterization of a novel second type of neutral ceramidase from rat brain (RBCDase II). Triton X-100 protein extract from rat brain membrane was purified sequentially using Q-Sepharose, HiLoad16/60 Superdex 200pg, heparin-Sepharose, phenyl-Sepharose HP, and Mono Q columns.