Low-avidity HPA-1a alloantibodies in severe neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia are detectable with surface plasmon resonance technology |
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Authors: | Ines Socher Cornelia Andrei-Selmer Gregor Bein Hartmut Kroll Sentot Santoso |
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Affiliation: | From the Institute for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Giessen;and the Institute for Transfusion Medicine Dessau, Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service NSTOB, Dessau, Germany. |
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Abstract: | BACKGROUND: Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is mostly caused by maternal alloantibodies directed against the human platelet alloantigen (HPA)-1a. Currently, the serologic diagnosis of FNAIT is based on the characterization of the HPA alloantibodies in monoclonal antibody–based antigen-capture assays (e.g., MAIPA assay). Accumulated current evidence indicated that such assays may overlook some HPA-1a antibodies. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This study employed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology using immunoaffinity-purified glycoprotein IIb/IIIa isoforms immobilized on biosensor chips to study the binding kinetics of HPA-1a alloantibodies from different FNAIT cases in real time. RESULTS: Analysis of HPA-1a alloantibodies from FNAIT cases (n = 9) in SPR showed a moderate relative response (22.2-69.7 resonance units [RU]) and slow antibody dissociation. After the dissociation phase, varying amounts of bound antibodies (41%-79%) remained on the chip. In contrast in HPA-1a alloantibodies from a patient suffering from posttransfusion purpura, a high relative response (∼490 RU) was observed at the end of the association phase and no dissociation of antibody binding was detectable. Of particular relevance, by the use of this SPR technique, HPA-1a alloantibodies were detected in two severe FNAIT cases that had determined as false negative by MAIPA assay. In SPR, these HPA-1a alloantibodies showed low-avidity nature characterized by gradual dissociation of antibody during the association phase and complete detachment of antibody binding after the dissociation phase. This high "off-rate" character of low-avidity HPA-1a alloantibodies indicates that such antibody binding is easily detachable by the extensive washing procedure of the MAIPA. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that the SPR method can facilitate the diagnosis of clinically relevant low-avidity HPA-1a antibodies. |
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