Abstract

PRIETO-CASAL, Fernanda; CABANAS-GADEA, Claudia; FIGUEREDO-LOPEZ, Sonia  and  VILLAGRA-CARRON, Verónica. Fetomaternal immunization against HLA antigens in women from a Paraguayan population. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2021, vol.19, n.1, pp.48-57. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2021.019.01.48.

Pregnancy is the only natural cause of immunization against the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system. During pregnancy, fetal leukocytes pass through the placenta, which can trigger an immunological response in the mother against the fetus paternal HLA antigens, with the consequent production of antibodies. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of pregnancy-induced HLA antigen sensitization in Paraguayan women and to study the characteristics and specificities of the antibodies found. We conducted a descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional study of 319 Paraguayan women, who attended the Central Laboratory of Public Health between April 2017 and April 2018 using LUMINEX technology to detect anti-HLA antibodies. We found anti-HLA antibodies in 46% of multiparous women. Antibodies against all tested antigens were detected. The vast majority of the sera exhibited multiple specificities. We conclude that increasing the number of gestations not only increases a woman's likelihood of developing anti-HLA antibodies, but it also appears to increase the number of developed specificities and titers of antibodies.

Keywords : anti-HLA antibodies; fetomaternal alloimmunization; immune response; pregnancy.

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