Cytotoxic antibodies in sera of Venezuelan multiparous women of Amerindian and mixed ethnic origin

Sera from 464 multiparous women of mixed ethnic origin and 114 Amerindian mothers (Warao of Western Venezuela), were studied for lymphocytotoxicity using a panel of B and T lymphocytes isolated from 50 to 100 individuals from the same populations. Twenty-five and 9.65% of the sera, respectively, showed activity against at least 5% of the panel. Among the women of mixed ethnic origin 10% produced antibodies directed against one or more HLA Class I antigens while 2 sera contained monospecific anti-DR antibodies; among the Warao, only 2 sera recognized HLA antigens: a Bw51 and an undetermined Cw antigen which shows linkage disequilibrium with Bw16 in both populations.