The Br antigens one of the human platelet antigens (HPA), was discovered by Kiefel et al in 1988 for the first time. As many studies progress, the Br is emerging as a major human platelet antigen system causing neonatal alloimmune
thrombocytopenia
(NAIT) and platelet transfusion refractoriness.
The Br antigens, belonging to the HPA-5, are known to be located at the platelet surface glycoprotein IA and it was difficult to find by using conventional immunofluorescent methods because it has only 1,000 to 2,000 antigenic sites. Only a few
research
institutes are now performing the Br identification in the world, with the monoclonal antibody immobilization of platelet antigens (MAIPA) and the modified antigen capture ELISA (MACE), which are highly sophisticated techniques.
In this study, we used a new easy methodology to identify of the Br antigens, the modified mixed passive hemagglutination (MPHA) method, and studied the positivities of the Br antigens in 98 Koreans. The results of positivities showed 1.02%
(1/98)
in
Bra (HPA-5b) and 95. 92% (94/98) in Brb (HPA-5a).
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