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. 2001 Sep;85(9):1104–1109. doi: 10.1136/bjo.85.9.1104

Effect of ABO blood group mismatching on corneal epithelial cells: an in vitro study

J Chan 1, H Dua 1, A Powell-Richards 1, D Jones 1, I Harris 1
PMCID: PMC1724101  PMID: 11520765

Abstract

AIM—To determine, in vitro, the effects of blood group ABO mismatching on corneal epithelial cells.
METHODS—Corneal epithelial cell cultures were established from 32 human cadaver donor eyes. Epithelial cells (100 µl of 4 × 102 cells per µl) were incubated for 4 hours with antibodies against blood group antigens A, B, and AB, with and without complement. Cell lysis was assayed by a chemiluminescent assay using Cytolite reagent. Live cells, remaining after incubation, were counted in a scintillation counter. The blood group of the donors was determined retrospectively, in a blinded manner.
RESULTS—Retrospective tracing of donor blood groups was possible for 20 donors. In all cases the blood group corresponded with that suggested by the cell lysis assay. Significant cell lysis was observed when known A group cells were incubated with anti-A and anti-AB antibody, B group cells were incubated with anti-B and AB antibody, and AB group cells were incubated with anti-AB antibody. Lysis occurred only in the presence of complement. No lysis of O group cells was observed with any of the antibodies. In all cases, lysis was observed only with neat (serum) antibody concentrations.
CONCLUSIONS—Blood group ABO mismatching results in significant lysis of corneal epithelial cells. The antibody concentration required for lysis equals that found in serum. Such levels of antibody are unlikely to be achieved in tears and/or aqueous. This may offer an explanation for the conflicting reports of the studies on the effect of blood group matching on corneal grafts. The variability in the outcome may reflect the levels of antibodies gaining access to the corneal cells and not the mismatching alone.



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Figure 1  .

Figure 1  

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Shows live cells remaining after blood group A corneal epithelial cells were incubated with the various antisera, with and without complement. Significant lysis was observed with anti-A + complement and anti-AB + complement. (A = anti-A antibody, B = anti-B antibody, AB = anti-AB antibody, comp = complement.) The Y axis represents scintillation counts (0.02 minutes/well) of live cells. Error bars represent SEM.

Figure 2  .

Figure 2  

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Shows live cells remaining after blood group B corneal epithelial cells were incubated with the various antisera, with and without complement. Significant lysis was observed with anti-B + complement and anti-AB + complement. (A = anti-A antibody, B = anti-B antibody, AB = anti-AB antibody, comp = complement.) The Y axis represents scintillation counts (0.02 minutes/well) of live cells. Error bars represent SEM.

Figure 3  .

Figure 3  

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Shows live cells remaining after blood group AB corneal epithelial cells were incubated with the various antisera, with and without complement. Significant lysis was observed with anti-AB + complement only. (A = anti-A antibody, B = anti-B antibody, AB = anti-AB antibody, comp = complement.) The Y axis represents scintillation counts (0.02 minutes/well) of live cells. Error bars represent SEM.

Figure 4  .

Figure 4  

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Shows live cells remaining after blood group O corneal epithelial cells were incubated with the various antisera, with and without complement. Lysis was not detected. (A = anti-A antibody, B = anti-B antibody, AB = anti-AB antibody, comp = complement.) The Y axis represents scintillation counts (0.02 minutes/well) of live cells. Error bars represent SEM.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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