[HLA antibodies in retroplacental blood samples. I. Preliminary results of a screening study]

Retroplacental blood samples (between 3 ml and 290 ml) which had been obtained from 327 recently delivered women were tested for the presence of HLA-A, B, C, DR antibodies. The approaches taken by the examiners were the NIH microlymphocytotoxicity test according to Terasaki and the two-colour fluorescence test according to van Rood. The examiners established 66 sera with cytotoxic reactions, and 18 of these serum samples (5.5 per cent) contained good to very good antibodies of the HLA-A, B, C, and DR series (correlation coefficients being between 0.55 and 1.00). Advantages offered by this search test over conventional pregnancy screening are discussed in some detail.