Deliberate buffy-coat transfusions and the risk of antibody formation.

Antibody formation was monitored after buffy-coat transfusions were given at weekly intervals for 9 weeks or a single injection of buffy-coat pooled from ten different donors was given. Among patients with no prior transfusion history, 7 patients given repeated transfusions did not develop warm B or T cytotoxins. Among 25 patients receiving pooled buffy-coat, only 1 patient (who had 3 prior pregnancies) developed warm B and T cytotoxins. In contrast, approximately one fourth of patients who had prior blood transfusions developed warm B and T cytotoxins with either repeated or pooled buffy-coat transfusions. We conclude that buffy-coat from 10 donors given weekly or as a single pooled injection does not produce warm B and T cytotoxins in nontransfused patients, but does function as a secondary stimulus in primed patients.