A Naturally Occurring Monospecific Anti‐HL‐A8 Isoantibody

Abstract

Aided in part by a grant from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research. A case is reported of a 34‐year‐old female with chronic thyroiditis, multiple upper respiratory ailments, and a monospecific anti‐HL–A8 lymphocytotoxic isoantibody occurring in her serum in the absence of prior pregnancy or transfusion. The antibody showed a rise in titer over several years of observation and was contained wholly within the IgM serum fraction, which fraction was mildly increased above normal values. Whether the antibody reflects cross‐reaction to exogenous antigens or a spontaneous monoclonal proliferative phenomenon, the case is of interest in relation to Jerne's theory of the generation of antibody diversity.

Epitopes of human leukocyte antigen class I antibodies found in sera of normal healthy males and cord blood

“…Two studies describe the detection of anti-HLA-B8 [12,13] and another study [14] describes the detection of anti-HLA-A2 in normal sera of healthy males. Perhaps the weak sensitivity of the assays used in the past, plus the fact that 60% of the epitopes targeted by the antibodies described in this study are cryptic, is the main reason these antibodies have not received more attention.…”

The generation and maintenance of serum alloantibody

“…Of note, some patients develop HLA antibodies in the absence of any sensitising event [41,42], most likely in response to cross reactive epitopes on microorganisms, ingested proteins, and allergens [43]. …”

Heart transplantation with donor-specific antibodies directed toward denatured HLA-A*02:01: a case report

“…Nevertheless, articles published in the past century reported the existence of "natural antibodies" to HLA, detectable with complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) directed mostly against HLA-B8 antigen [1,2]. The introduction of solidphase assays [3] for antibody detection made it possible to search more precisely for such natural antibodies.…”