BACKGROUND

Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is mostly caused by maternal alloantibodies directed against the human platelet alloantigen (HPA)-1a. Currently, the serologic diagnosis of FNAIT is based on the characterization of the HPA alloantibodies in monoclonal antibody-based antigen-capture assays (e.g., MAIPA assay). Accumulated current evidence indicated that such assays may overlook some HPA-1a antibodies.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

This study employed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology using immunoaffinity-purified glycoprotein IIb/IIIa isoforms immobilized on biosensor chips to study the binding kinetics of HPA-1a alloantibodies from different FNAIT cases in real time.

RESULTS

Analysis of HPA-1a alloantibodies from FNAIT cases (n = 9) in SPR showed a moderate relative response (22.2-69.7 resonance units [RU]) and slow antibody dissociation. After the dissociation phase, varying amounts of bound antibodies (41%-79%) remained on the chip. In contrast in HPA-1a alloantibodies from a patient suffering from posttransfusion purpura, a high relative response (approximately 490 RU) was observed at the end of the association phase and no dissociation of antibody binding was detectable. Of particular relevance, by the use of this SPR technique, HPA-1a alloantibodies were detected in two severe FNAIT cases that had determined as false negative by MAIPA assay. In SPR, these HPA-1a alloantibodies showed low-avidity nature characterized by gradual dissociation of antibody during the association phase and complete detachment of antibody binding after the dissociation phase. This high "off-rate" character of low-avidity HPA-1a alloantibodies indicates that such antibody binding is easily detachable by the extensive washing procedure of the MAIPA.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrated that the SPR method can facilitate the diagnosis of clinically relevant low-avidity HPA-1a antibodies.