Antierythrocyte antibodies in hemodialysis and kidney transplant patients.

Natural antierythrocytic antibodies may be stimulated by bacterial antigens and the immune type may occur as a result of pregnancy or blood transfusions. The prevalence increases with the number of red cell units transfused. Specificity, on the other hand, depends on ethnic backgrounds. The clinical importance of these antibodies is to precipitate hemolytic transfusion reactions and erythroblastosis fetalis. Hemodialysis patients are multitransfused and have a quite variable prevalence of antibodies. Kidney transplant patients with blood group identity do not form antibodies. We studied the presence of both types of antierythrocytic antibodies (natural and immune) in hemodialysis and kidney transplant patients in Brazilian blood transfusion and nephrology services.