LAUSR

Individuals with multiple antibodies were alloimmuonized after first or subsequent pregnancies. Alloimmunization of red blood cells in pregnancy is a challenge to clinicians. Maternal Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies are the main cause of fetal red cell hemolysis [1]. Maternal alloimmunization following exposure to allogeneic RBCs during pregnancy or blood transfusion results in hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). The prevalence of maternal RBC alloimmunisation is unclear and newborns affected by maternal RBC alloantibodies may have prolonged anemia after birth, and this issue may leads one to question that, whether maternal alloantibody transfer may take place out of the placenta [2]. It seems that, theoretically maternal anti-RBC IgA alloantibodies may also be transferred in human breast milk and so result in consequence in some infants under some circumstances [2]. In spite of the fact that Rh immune globulin (RhIG) plays an important role in prevention of anti-D hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, HDFN due to anti-D and by non-D antibodies still are a serious concern. Among 50 RBC alloantibodies that lead to HDFN, anti-D, anti-c and anti-K having the highest probability of causing severe HDFN respectively, and also anti-D is the most common and severe cause of immunization [3]. The prevalence of alloantibodies in pregnancy has been reported in different countries [4,5] and also we have reported this prevalence in Iranian pregnant women in our recent study [6]. We believe that an assessment of such a data from pregnant women and also from thalassemia patients helps to monitor pregnancies with antibodies that may put embryos at the risk of HDFN.