A Safe Blood Transfusion Procedure for Immunization Against Major Histocompatibility Complex Determinants in Man

SUMMARY A standardized procedure is proposed for deliberate immunizations against human major histocompatibility complex determinants. The data presented demonstrate its effectiveness and, by using a number of necessary precautions, this procedure has proven to be very safe. The following points are especially important: (1) exclusive utilization of regular blood donors as immunizers; (2) use of whole blood as an immunizing agent; and (3) use of small immunizing stimuli rather than large transfusions. This procedure can be recommended for the production of monospecific anti-HLA antisera and it may be useful if and when a deliberate transfusion policy for prospective kidney recipients is adopted. Because of the increasing complexity of the HLA system, planned immunizations become more and more necessary if extensive selections and absorptions of sera from multiparous women are to be avoided. Also, there is evidence indicating the beneficial effect of blood transfusion on the outcome of kidney transplants (1–5). This may create in the future the requirement for deliberate transfusion also in these cases. A standardized immunization procedure in volunteer recipients has been undertaken by our group during the past 9 years. Based on the considerable amount of data collected, we can confidently recommend this procedure as both safe and effective in eliciting anti-HLA antibodies.