Transfusion-induced immunosuppression.

Therapeutic interventions after traumatic injury often include components that may affect the immune response, including administration of blood transfusions. Recent efforts focused on the effect of transfusion on cell-mediated immune response (CMI) in mice. Antigen-specific and third-party allogeneic blood suppressed CMI response, indicating a nonspecific component of transfusion-induced immunosuppression. A larger volume of allogeneic blood given once was more suppressive than a smaller amount, while administration of syngeneic blood had no effect. The observed blood-induced suppression was indomethacin-sensitive, and antiprostaglandin E antibody given to transfused mice resulted in an augmented CMI. Prostaglandin E appears to play a mechanistic role in transfusion-induced suppression.