The immunologic identification of abnormal hemoglobins.

Guinea pig antisera against human hemoglobin contain antibodies to multiple antigenic determinants. Hemoglobin variants having single amino acid substitutions affecting these determinants are recognized as antigenically deficient in a radioimmunoassay system. The multivalent antisera may be made more selective by appropriate absorption with hemoglobin variants. Three such antisera containing antibodies specific, respectively, for the beta-chain of Hb A, Hb S, and Hb C are described. They can differentiate among the hemoglobins of individuals who possess these variants alone or in any paired combination. Their discriminating ability is not hindered by the presence of 1,000-fold concentrations of Hb F and may therefore be extended to the early prenatal diagnosis of sickling disorders. The antisera described also detect several other variants of Hb A. The approximate location of the substitution in variants so detected can be determined by a complementation test. This is based on the finding that two antigenically deficient hemoglobins will complement each other in mixture provided their amino acid substitutions involve different determinants.