Prevalence of Red Blood Cell Alloantibodies in Blood Donors of Zanjan Province; the Preliminary Report of the North West of Iran

Khadijeh Babaei¹, Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh^2*, Siamak Asadi¹ and Roya Sohrabi¹

¹Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran.

²Immunology Department and Cancer Gene Therapy Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.

Corresponding Author E-mail: a46reza@zums.ac.ir

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2385

ABSTRACT: Red blood cell (RBC) alloantibodies, especially IgG class, are clinically significant because of their association with hemolytic disease of newborns (HDN), hemolytic transfusion reaction (HTR) and a significant reduction in the lifespan of transfused red blood cells. The frequency of RBC alloantibody was variously reported due to difference in selected population and laboratory test sensitivity from less than 0.5% to up to 60%. In the presence of these mentioned alloantibodies, preparation of antigen-negative blood products for transfusion is necessary. In this cross-sectional study, 75 donors (73 males and 2 females) participated. ABO blood group typing was performed via two methods (cell type using anti-A, anti-B and anti-D and also the reverse or serum type using defined A and B cell suspensions). The serum samples were subjected to antibody screening test utilizing commercially available kits containing three vials of RBC with known surface antigen. The results were recorded and for donors with positive results, antibody identification test was also performed using a panel of 11 RBC with known surface antigen. In this study, of 75 donors, 73 (97.33%) were male and 2 (2.66%) were female. Participated donors age range was between 19 and 66 years. The frequency of blood groups in this population were A (52%), O (29.33%), B (14.66%) and AB (4%). and also Rh⁺(97.33%) and Rh^-(2.67%). Alloantibodies were detected in serum of 6 donors (8%). Identified alloantibodies were against K, c and e antigens. These antibodies were only identified in samples of men may be due to small sample size of women. No significant correlation between donor's age and type of alloantibodies were detected. The prevalence of alloantibodies in Zanjanianpopulation was 8%. Therefore, detection and identification of these antibodies in the donor population could be essential to prevent adverse hemolytic reaction in case of blood transfusion.

KEYWORDS: Alloantibody; Blood donor population; Antibody screening; Antibody identification

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