Fetomaternal leukocyte incompatibility.

Iso-leukoagglutinins are known to develop primarily in multitransfused patients (1-6). A possibly different kind of agglutinin for white cells, such as that related to aminopyrine leukopenia, has also been described (7). The therapeutic administration of blood and of aminopyrine may not be the only stimuli for leukoagglutinin production. Two groups of investigators, Dausset, Nenna and Brecy (8) and Whyte and Yee (9), have drawn upon the analogy to Rh antibody formation, and have discussed the possibility that fetal leukocyte antigens might act as stimuli to the mother. Killman (10) considered this potential source of antigen in his investigations of leukoagglutinins in collagen diseases, but he was unable to find any correlation between pregnancies and leukoagglutinin formation. The studies presented in this paper demonstrate that fetomaternal leukocyte incompatibility may induce leukoagglutinin formation in the mother, and suggest that some leukocyte factors, as demonstrated by their corresponding leukoagglutinins, may be genetically transmitted to the offspring.