Incompatibility of Mother and Foetus with respect to the Iso-Agglutinogen A and its Antibody
Year: 1947
Type: article
Abstract: Recent research on the Rh antigen discovered by Landsteiner and Wiener (1940) has provided conclusive evidence pointing to the occurrence of maternal iso-immunization-i.e. the production of antibodies by the mother in response to the presence of corpuscular antigens in the foetus.Maternal iso-imlunization throws new light on the occurrence of neonatal haemolytic anaemias, of stillbirths, and of abortions in sibships containing members so affected.The importance of its contribution to neonatal and foetal death naturally prompts us to ask to what extent: (a) other foetal antigens evoke the production of maternal antibodies; (b) other maternal antibodies may penetrate the placental barrier with lethal or semi-lethal consequences to the foetus or newly born.These issues had in fact provoked attention before work on the Rhesus antigen clarified current views.Diamond, Blackfan, and Baty (1932) and independently Parsons, Hawksley, and Gittins (1933) suggested that hydrops foetalis, icterus gravis neonatorum, and anaemia of the newborn are different manifestations of the same disease, which they called erythroblastosis foetalis.As the name suggests, its characteristic feature is excess of immature red blood cells in the blood of the foetus.The reason for this remained unexplained until 1940.In 1939 Levine and Stetson described an unusual case of intra-group agglutination in which a woman just delivered of a macerated stillborn foetus was transfused with blood from her husband of the same iso-agglutinogen group (0).Shortly after this she showed all symptoms of incompatible transfusion.Other tests subsequently proved that her serum agglutinated her husband's cells, though she was later transfused with blood from donors of group 0 whose cells did not agglutinate in this way.Tests on a number of group 0 donors, to find a miscible blood, showed that only 20 % were indeed compatible.Levine and Stetson made further tests, and showed that such agglutination was due to an irregular iso- agglutinin independent of the factors M, N, or P, but were unable to obtain a copyright.
DOI: 10.1136/jech.1.1.1
Authors: J. A. H. Waterhouse, L. Hogben
Language: English
Topic: Blood groups and transfusion
Subfield: Hematology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2013706011