Sialic Acid Deficiency of Human Red Blood Cells Associated with Persistent Red Cell, Leucocyte, and Platelet Polyagglutinability

Summary. This study reports, for the first time, a persistent polyagglutinability involving all blood cells of a patient. The phenomenon is shown to be an immunological reaction due to an antibody present in sera of all normal adults, whereas the antigen, tentatively designated ‘Tcr’, is unique to the patient. It is shown that Tcr is related to Tn, an antigen previously described in association with red cell polyagglutinability. A partial deficiency of red cell sialic acid is also found to be associated with this abnormality. It is suggested that this sialic acid deficiency may be a manifestation of a primary underlying muco‐protein abnormality.