A Case Study

Both 51Cr-survival studies with donor platelets and allogenic skin transplantations were performed in a patient with immune unresponsiveness to platelet antigens, i.e., HLA-and platelet-specific antigens. The patients, who suffered from hypoplastic anaemia, was successfully transfused with random donor platelets during 13 months. The serum of this patient contained only granulocyte-and mononuclear-cell-reactive antibodies, but no platelet-reactive antibodies. A nearly normal survival time of the donor platelets as well as a prolonged rejection time of a skin allograft of the same donor support the serological findings. The 51Cr-platelet survival time was not influenced by a leucocyte concentrate from the same donor, which was administered at the same time. Thus, in our patient, no increased platelet destruction could be induced via the so-called innocent bystander mechanism.