Possible effects of non‐HLA antibodies in common typing sera on HLA antigen frequency data in leukemia

Selective adsorptions of several common “monospecific” HLA typing sera with HLA typed platelets, purified B lymphocytes, cultured lymphoid cells, or lymphocytes from patients with active chronic lymphocytic leukemia demonstrated that many of these sera contain antibodies to non‐HLA antigens. Antibodies were detected to antigens present on peripheral blood B‐lymphocytes, cultured lymphoid cells and leukemic cells from patients with both myelocytic and lymphocytic forms of leukemia but absent from T‐lymphocytes and platelets. Since these kinds of antibodies appear to be present in a large proportion of common HLA typing sera, caution should be used in interpreting all data related to HLA antigen expression in leukemia.