Direct evidence for the existence of Miltenberger antigen.

The Miltenberger (Mi) subsystem, which originally consisted of four phenotypes, now has 11 phenotypes. The antigens of this subsystem belong to the MNS blood group system. The Mia antigen has been reported to be present on red blood cells with several Miltenberger phenotypes, namely: Mi.I, Mi.II, Mi.III, Mi.IV, Mi.VI and Mi.X. However, the existence of the Mia antigen as a separate entity has been in question and difficult to prove with polyclonal reagents. We report the first monoclonal anti-Mia (GAMA210), whose epitope is TNDKHKRD or QTNDMHKR, and thereby confirm the existence of the Mia antigen.