Allo-anti-Chido in a Ch-positive patient

High-titer, low-avidity (HTLA) antibodies and antigens: a review

Antibodies that react to HTLA characteristics cause difficulties in serologic testing because of the weak reactions they produce in the indirect antiglobulin test. Those specificities that are more frequently encountered (anti-Yka, -McCa, -Kna, -Ch) are directed toward antigens of high incidence in both the white and black populations. They have not been shown to cause significant destruction of transfused antigen-positive red cells. The antibodies create problems in serologic tests because the reactions they produce interfere with the identification of reactions due to other, clinically significant antibodies.

The antigenic determinants, Rg/Ch/WH, expressed by Japanese C4 allotypes

The expression of antigenic determinants, Rg/Ch/WH, on Japanese C4 allotypes has been studied. Although the Japanese C4 allotype frequencies are known to differ from Europeans, the antigenic expression of their C4 allotypes correlates with associations described previously. All 89 random donors and 17 selected donors were Rg:1,2 so neither Rg:1,-2 nor Rg:1,-2 was found. The frequency of Ch:1,-2,3 was elevated while that of Ch:1,2,3 was reduced, which was seen as a direct result of the higher frequency of B2 and B5 allotypes. None of the Japanese were Ch:1,2,-3, but this can be accounted for by the absence of the A*6,B*1 haplotype. The WH determinant, which has been associated completely with Rg:1,-2 in Caucasians, was found at a higher frequency, 32%, in association with an A*3,2,B*QO haplotype expressing Rg:1,2, which has not been described previously. Detailed investigation showed that the A3 allotype was Rg:1,2 whereas the A2 allotype only expressed Rg1 (Rg:1,-2 WH+).

Antigenic determinants expressed by human C4 allotypes; a study of 325 families provides evidence for the structural antigenic model

The antigenic determinants of human C4 have been defined by human IgG antisera, Rodgers (Rg) and Chido (Ch), in hemagglutination-inhibition assays (HAI). Eight (2 Rg and 6 Ch) are of high frequency, greater than 90%, and 1, WH, is of low frequency, 15%. The phenotypic combinations are complex; generally, C4A expresses Rg, and C4B has Ch, but reverse antigenicities have been established both by HAI and by sequence data of selected C4 allotypes. A study of 325 families provides data on the antigenic expression of each C4 allotype and demonstrates strong associations. A structural model for the antigenic determinants of C4 proteins has been proposed and is completely supported by the family material. Of the 16 possible antigenic combinations for C4 proteins, only 3 are undetected. A new Ch combination has been recorded in two French families. The reported sequence variation within the C4d region can account for the antigenic determinants but leaves the location of electrophoretic variation in C4 still unclear.

The study of a French family with two duplicated C4A haplotypes

The finding of two duplicated C4A haplotypes in a normal French family led to a detailed study of their C4 polymorphism. The father had an extremely rare A*6A*11, B*QO haplotype inherited by all of his children and the mother had the more common A*3A*2, B*QO haplotype. Two HLA identical daughters only have four C4A alleles. The father's A11 allotype expresses Ch:1 (Chido) rather than Rg:1 (Rodgers) and represents a new Ch phenotype Ch:1,-2,-3,-4,-5,-6. In order to clarify the genetic background in this unusual family, DNA studies of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were undertaken. The father's rare haplotype, which expresses two C4A allotypes, results from a long and a short C4 gene normally associated with the A*6, B*1 that also exhibits the Bg/II RFLP. As it travels in an extended MHC haplotype HLA A2, B57(17), C2*C, BF*S, DR7 that is most frequently associated with A*6, B*1, we postulate that the short C4B has been converted in the alpha chain region to a C4A gene which produces a C4A protein. This report of a short C4A gene is the first example in the complex polymorphism of C4.