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Posttransfusion Purpura Associated with an Anti‐Bak b
Author(s) -
Kiefel V.,
Santoso S.,
Glöckner W.M.,
Katzmann B.,
Mayr W.R.,
MuellerEckhardt C.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1423-0410.1989.tb04957.x
Subject(s) - platelet , medicine , platelet membrane glycoprotein , antigen , immunology , neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia , antibody , typing , glycoprotein , population , purpura (gastropod) , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , pregnancy , genetics , ecology , fetus , environmental health
. We describe a 46‐year‐old white woman with typical clinical features of posttransfusion purpura (PTP) whose serum held a platelet‐specific alloantibody reactive with an antigen antithetical to Bak a , i.e. anti‐Bak b . The specificity of the antibody was confirmed by family analysis, a population study (expected versus observed gene frequency: 0.3651 versus 0.3984; n=105) and localization of the antigen on glycoprotein IIb in radioimmunoprecipitation. Typing of family members and blood donors for platelet antigens disclosed that the patient had been preimmunized by two blood transfusions in 1981, while fetomaternal incompatibility for Bak b was ruled out (her three children and their father were Bak b negative). Treatment of PTP with corticosteroids and platelet transfusions was ineffective, but infusion of high‐dose intravenous IgG resulted in a rapid increase in the platelet count.