Distribution of Red Blood Cell Alloantibodies Among Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemia Patients in Different Population of Iran: Effect of Ethnicity

Abstract

The best approach for prevention of alloimmunization in β-thalassemia (β-thal) patients is perfect matching of all red blood cell (RBC) antigens associated with clinically significant antibodies, but this is expensive and may limit the blood supply. Knowing the most common alloantibodies in transfusion-dependent β-thal patients make it possible to establish more cost-effective matching strategies for high-risk antigens. With this in mind, we intended to determine the most common alloantibodies in different parts of Iran. A total of 480 alloimmunized β-thal major (β-TM) patients who were referred to the Tehran Adult Thalassemia Clinic in Tehran, Iran from all provinces between 2015 and 2017, were included in this study. Antibody screening was performed on the fresh serum of all patients. Subsequently, the specification of antibodies was identified using a panel of recognized blood group antigens. Anti-K was the most common alloantibody detected in β-TM patients in all regions of Iran. The prevalence of this antibody reached to 37.7% in the western area, but in southeastern region, anti-E was predominant. Interestingly, the rare alloantibody anti-Kp^a was detected with a high prevalence in the western region. The antibodies against E and D antigens were also encountered with high prevalence in most regions of the country. The present study demonstrated the distribution of alloantibodies in alloimmunized transfusion-dependent β-thal patients from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds of the Iranian population. The results of this study can be used as a basis to establish cost-effective RBC phenotyping and matching strategies for high-risk antigens in donors and chronic transfusion recipients in different regions of Iran.

Keywords:

• Alloimmunization
• β-thalassemia (β-thal)
• Iran

Acknowledgments

We thank the Tehran Adult Thalassemia Clinic and Iranian IBTO Immunohematology Reference Laboratory (Tehran, Iran) staff for helping in sample collection and helpful discussions.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.