Recent advance on blood group antigen modification of porcine erythrocytes.
- Author:
Jie-Xi WANG
1
;
Yang-Pei ZHANG
Author Information
1. Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Animals;
Blood Group Antigens;
immunology;
Erythrocyte Transfusion;
methods;
Erythrocytes;
cytology;
immunology;
Humans;
Swine;
Transplantation, Heterologous;
immunology
- From:
Journal of Experimental Hematology
2002;10(3):273-276
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Advances in the field of xenotransplantation raise the intriguing possibility of using porcine red blood cells (pRBCs) as an alternative source for blood transfusion. Serologically, pRBCs share a number of characteristics with human red blood cells (RBCs), so pRBCs are considered the most likely donor for xenotransfusion. However, xenoantigens on porcine erythrocytes play major roles in antibody-mediated RBC destruction. Although the alphaGal epitope (Galalpha1, 3Galbeta1, 4GalNAc-R) is the major xenoantigen on porcine erythrocytes and is responsible for the binding of the majority of human natural antibodies, other non-alphaGal xenoantigens have been identified. The importance of these non-alphaGal xenoantigens in binding human natural antibodies and subsequently triggering immunological responses cannot be underestimated.
