[Demonstration of platelet-specific alloantibodies in HLA-sensitized hematologic oncologic patients]

Alloimmunization to the platelet-specific antigen systems HPA-1, -3 and -5 was studied in 59 multitransfused patients (31 females, 16 males, 12 children) with haematologic-oncologic disorders. All patients tested had broad-reacting or multispecific HLA antibodies. Of these, 10 (17%) were found to have additional platelet-specific alloantibodies. With respect to HLA sensitization, 9 out of 10 platelet-specific alloantibodies were found in sera which showed HLA antibodies reacting with more than 95% of unselected panel cells. Determination of antibody specificity revealed 6 patients with anti-HPA-1b, one patient with anti-HPA-3a, and 2 patients with anti-HPA-1b combined with anti-HPA-3a. One patient had anti-HPA-5b; in retrospect, only the HPA-5b antibody was demonstrable before the beginning of transfusion therapy and before HLA sensitization.