Immune response to blood antigens in patients with sickle cell disease

Abstract

Blood transfusion is a vital therapy in treating and preventing the complications of sickle cell disease (SCD). However, despite transfusions of packed red blood cells significantly improve morbidity and mortality in this patient population, their use is complicated by the high incidence of alloimmunization, a serious complication in patients with SCD can result in Delayed Hemolytic Transfusion Reaction (DHTR). However, not all patients develop antibodies after exposure to RBC transfusion. The hypothesis is that patient's alloimmunized to erythrocyte antigens represent a genetically distinct group with an increased susceptibility to sensitization to blood group antigens. Studies have shown that the process of alloimmunization to blood group antigens can be modulated through every step of genetic and acquired factors, although the importance of these factors for alloimmunization in SCD patients has not yet been fully elucidated. Pre transfusion tests that can help to predict in advance which patients develop alloantibodies to erythrocyte antigens need to be implemented. So our aim is to identify immunological markers that make the SCD patients susceptible to erythrocyte alloimmunization, by analyzing their Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA), regulatory T cells (Tregs), and single nucleotide polymorphisms in the cytokine gene involved in humoral immunity (IL4, IL10 and IL17) in alloimmunized and non-alloimmunized.