What does it mean if I have HLA antibodies?
Your cells make antibodies in response to antigens on cells that are different from your own and foreign targets such as viruses and bacteria. Antibodies play a key role in the immune system. HLA antibodies are commonly formed in women during pregnancy, after receiving a blood transfusion or organ transplant.
What is HLA testing used for?
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing is used to match patients and donors for bone marrow or cord blood transplants. HLA are proteins — or markers — found on most cells in your body. Your immune system uses these markers to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not.
Can you have HLA antibodies if you’ve never been pregnant?
What does HLA Mean? Human Leukocyte Antigen. The antibody to HLA most often occurs in donors who have previously been pregnant, and can be found in plasma, and platelet products. Women, however, do not always become HLA antibody positive in pregnancy.
HLA antibodies attack foreign invaders like Viruses and bacteria. But if a person gets a donated Organ. Then the immune system does not recognize the donated organ and attack it. That is why people who have transplanted organs have to take drugs to suppress the immune system.
What is the purpose of HLA testing?
The primary use for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing is to match organ and tissue transplant recipients with compatible donors. HLA testing also includes screening transplant recipients for the presence of antibodies that might target the donated tissue or organ as part of an immune response.
What causes HLA antibodies?
A: Anti-HLA antibodies can be triggered by blood transfusion, multiple pregnancies and by transplantation. Lymphocytes present in transfused blood are the source of the immunization causing anti-HLA antibody development.
Why is HLA called an antigen?
HLA genes are highly polymorphic, which means that they have many different alleles, allowing them to fine-tune the adaptive immune system. The proteins encoded by certain genes are also known as antigens, as a result of their historic discovery as factors in organ transplants.