Anti‐N‐Like Antibodies in the Sera of Patients Undergoing Chronic Hemodialysis1

Within the last two years, 12 examples of red cell antibody with apparent anti‐N specificity have been found in the sera of 416 prospective kidney transplant recipients maintained on chronic hemodialysis. Eight of the 12 patients were N‐positive, three of them in the homozygous state. Serial samples from these patients were tested against M, MN and N cells of compatible ABO types, and in 10 of the 12 cases against the patients' own red cells. Anti‐N‐like antibody was detected only after many months of chronic hemodialysis, and it decreased or disappeared after transplantation. Its appearance was not related to blood transfusion. The ability of the antibody to agglutinate patients' own red cells in the cold explains the loss of several cooled renal allografts.