Authors of a recently published study identified the optimal cutoff value for defining high titers of anti-ABO autoantibodies that could standardize guidelines for transfusions and organ transplants that adequately prevent hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN).
The study was published in the Asian Journal of Transfusion Science.
Due to the importance of O-type blood in transfusion medicine, the authors aimed to determine the trend of anti-ABO antibodies in O-type donors in the North Indian population. Results showed that the majority had low titers of anti-ABO antibodies. The authors defined high antibody titers as over 64 for IgM antibodies and over 128 for IgG antibodies.
Learn more about HDFN treatment and care
Around 11% of 218 O-negative donors had high IgM titers, and 20% had high IgM titers. The majority of donors with high anti-ABO titers were men of Hindu descent under the age of 50. The authors remarked that none of the recipients of donated blood experienced hemolytic transfusion reactions during the 8-month follow-up period.
Unlike previous studies, the authors found no significant association between trigger factors such as a vegetarian diet, vaccination or probiotic use and higher anti-ABO antibody titers.
The authors believe that introducing standardized titers into automatized ABO titer essays will remove interobserver bias and enable new, more effective guidelines for transfusion medicine.
“The use of automation in ABO titer assays removes subjective, interobserver variations, and the use of DTT in technical procedure offering consistent, precise, reproducible, and less labor‐intensive assays in resource‐constrained settings,” the authors wrote.
