Brb, a platelet alloantigen involved in neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia

Serum from a pregnant woman with the May-Hegglin anomaly contained a platelet-specific antibody. The serum reacted in the platelet indirect immunofluorescence test (PIIFT) with 97.6% of random donor platelets and those of the father but not with the mother's own platelets. This antibody induced a moderate thrombocytopenia in the infant that responded to infusion of intravenous immunoglobulin concentrates. The platelet phenotypes were PLA1+, Baka+, Bra+/Brb- for the mother, PLA1+, Baka+, Bra-/Brb+ for the father, and PLA1+, Bra+/Brb+ for the neonate. Analysis of the maternal serum with an immunoassay based on monoclonal antibody immobilization of platelet antigens (MAIPA) and immunoprecipitation techniques demonstrated the absence of antibodies directed against HLA class I antigens and that the antigen recognized was located on the platelet-GpIa/IIa complex. This antigen was present on 113/115 random donor platelets, in 7 of the 7 unrelated May-Hegglin platelets, and only absent in 3/24 Bra+ individuals, including the mother. No platelet-specific antibody was present in the serum of the 7 unrelated May-Hegglin subjects. The antigen recognized by this platelet-specific antibody thus meets the criteria defining the antithetic allele of Bra, i.e. the Brb alloantigen.