Frequency of HLA antibodies in south India.

ABSTRACT

Sera from 4088 pregnant women (649 antenatal bleeding and 3439 post-partum bleeding) living in Madurai, were collected and screened for anti-HLA. Α, Β and DR antibodies. 696 of them were screened for anti-HLA DR antibodies. Ten per cent (65/649) of antenatal sera and 13·4% of post-partum sera (463/3439) were positive for HLA A and Β antibodies nonetheless the percentage of monospecific sera were almost the same in both. Screening for HLA DR antibodies were carried out using platelet absorption in test tray technique seventy three of 696 (10·5%) were positive. The incidence of anti-HLA A, B antibodies correlates to the allelic frequencies in the population. Thus in India, collection and screening post-partum haemorrhage is the simplest and cost effective method of acquiring polyclonal sera for routine laboratory and diagnostic use.