Hungarian Blood Research Articles

P096 HIV p24 reactivity in Hungarian blood donors without evidence of HIV infection

P096 HIV p24 reactivity in Hungarian blood donors without evidence of HIV infection

O15 HCV infection and risk factors among Hungarian blood donors in colleges and universities

O15 HCV infection and risk factors among Hungarian blood donors in colleges and universities

Yersinia Yop-Specific IgA antibodies in Hungarian blood donors

Sera of 112 healthy Hungarian blood donors were tested for the presence of Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis-specific agglutinins by tube agglutination, and for that of yersinia outer membrane protein (Yop)-specific IgA antibodies by ELISA. The positive results of this latter assay were confirmed by immunoblot. Only one sample gave a positive agglutination reaction with Y. enterocolitica antigen (group 03) and four exhibited an equivocal reaction with Y. pseudotuberculosis antigens (groups II and IV). Contrary to the low incidence of agglutinins, 15.1% of the samples showed a positive Yop-specific IgA reaction, while further 5.3% samples fell into the equivocal range by ELISA (17 and 6 specimens, respectively). Eleven of these samples (9.8% of all specimens tested) were also positive by immunoblot for the presence of Yop-specific IgA antibodies. These data suggest a higher incidence of yersinia infections than the 1.0-1.4 per 10(5) population predicted on the basis of stool culture results.

Prevalence and age distribution of human herpesvirus-8 specific antibodies in Hungarian blood donors.

Sera of blood donors were investigated by a peptide ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assay to assess the prevalence of HHV-8 infection in the Hungarian population. A 14 amino acid long synthetic oligopeptide from the carboxyterminus of orf65/small virus capsid antigen was used as antigen in the ELISA. ELISA results were confirmed by recombinant orf65 antigen Western blot. Antibodies to the latent nuclear antigen were detected by the immunofluorescence assay. Nine of 12 sera obtained from patients with classical Kaposi sarcoma were reactive by ELISA whereas all were positive by immunofluorescence. Four of 482 (0.83%) healthy blood donors had anti-orf65 peptide antibodies and 17/1089 (1.56%) had antibodies to the latent nuclear antigen. In a group of children ages 1-14 years, antibodies to the latent nuclear antigen (0/29) were not detected. The prevalence of antibodies to the latent nuclear antigen showed a moderate but significant increase in correlation with senescence. In the Kaposi sarcoma patients, the titre of antibodies to the latent nuclear antigen was significantly higher than in the healthy seropositive donors. The overall HHV-8 seroprevalence by the two assays was 2.28% (11/482) in the Hungarian blood donor group.

Genotype Screening for Hereditary Hemochromatosis among Voluntary Blood Donors in Hungary

ABSTRACTHereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a common genetic disorder. Although it is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, heterozygous individuals are believed to be protected against iron deficiency. Screening to estimate the prevalence of HH was frequently performed among blood donors, not considering that carriers of the HH gene mutations may be present in higher proportion in this population. To examine the allele frequencies of the HH gene (HFE) point mutations, C282Y and H63D genotyping was carried out in 996 consecutive, first-time, and regular Hungarian blood donors by PCR–RFLP techniques. Iron parameters of the first-time donors and the identified C282Y heterozygotes and age, gender, and number of previous blood donation-matched wild-type donors were also determined. We were not able to demonstrate a significant increase in the frequency of C282Y and H63D alleles among regular blood donors, compared to first-time blood donors. However, there was a trend of higher C282Y allele frequency among women with higher number of previous blood donations (2.2 ± 1.5% in female blood donors with 0–8 previous blood donations compared to 4.8 ± 2.3% in women with more than 8 previous blood donations, P = 0.06). No detectable phenotypic differences were observed in serum iron, ferritin, and transferrin saturation values between C282Y wild-type and heterozygous groups. However, the single identified C282Y homozygous male (age 21) showed definite signs of iron overload. Our observations suggest that the protective effect of C282Y heterozygosity against iron deficiency may be less significant than other environmental (e.g., iron-rich diet) or genetic factors.

Apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism frequencies in a sample of healthy Hungarians

Apolipoprotein E (apo E) has been found to play an important role in lipid metabolism and has been associated with cardiovascular and neurodegenerative conditions. Hungarians have some of the highest rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the world. This study examines the distribution of apo E alleles and genotypes in a population of healthy ethnic Hungarian blood donors ( n=302). Male ( n=152) and female ( n=150) subjects ranging from 18 to 62 years of age (mean 37.0) were involved. To determine the frequency of apo E alleles, polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction length polymorphism was applied. The analyses of data showed that apo E allele ε3 had the greatest frequency in this group (0.807), followed by apo ε2 (0.104) and apo ε4 (0.087). The highest genotype frequency was found to be ε3/3 at 65.2% ( n=197) followed by genotype ε3/4 at 15.9% ( n=48), genotype ε2/3 at 15.2% ( n=46), genotype ε2/2 at 2.3% ( n=7), genotype ε2/4 at 1.0% ( n=3) and genotype ε4/4 at 0.4% ( n=1). The apo E frequencies found in this study appear to differ from an earlier study of blood donors, where the results are based on apo E phenotyping.

Apolipoprotein A-IV polymorphism in the Hungarian population: gene frequencies, effect on lipid levels, and sequence of two new variants.

The genetic polymorphism of human apolipoprotein A-IV was investigated in Hungarian blood donors (n = 202) by isoelectric focusing (IEF) of plasma samples followed by immunoblotting. The frequency of apo A-IV alleles was f(A-IV1) = 0.95, f(A-IV2) = 0.039 and f(A-IV3) = 0.002. This frequency distribution is significantly different from other Caucasian populations (P < 0.05). The association of apo A-IV phenotypes with HDL-cholesterol concentration which was previously described for two other European populations was only of borderline significance (P = 0.08). Three previously undescribed apo A-IV variants, designated Budapest-1, Budapest-2 and Budapest-3, were detected by IEF. The mutant proteins are not associated with alterations in the lipid/lipoprotein concentrations in heterozygotes. DNA-sequencing revealed two point mutations (Arg285-->Cys and Thr347-->Ser) in exon 3 of apo A-IV-Budapest-1 and a Glu-->Lys substitution at position 24 in exon 2 of apo A-IV-Budapest-2.

HCV antibodies in Hungarian blood donations. Experiences collected by ELISA tests, immunoblot assays and polymerase chain reaction and protocols for donor management.

Routine screening of Hungarian blood donors for anti-HCV commenced in the second half of 1992. Before this, five available anti-HCV ELISA kits were compared in pilot studies. In the first series, 831 random donor samples were tested by one of the tests and the 12 (1.4%) reactives found were retested by the other four. Six of the reactives were positive in all ELISA. In the second series, 325 samples from donors with elevated transaminase levels were tested by all five kits. Forty-four were found to be reactive by one or more of the tests and 32 (10%) were positive in all five assays. Samples concordantly reactive in the ELISA were positive in second or third generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA 2 or RIBA 3); those that gave discordant results were indeterminate or negative. Eleven concordantly reactive samples from the second series were HCV RNA positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the first period of screening with Abbott ELISA 2 a repeat-reactivity rate of 0.98% was observed in 171,106 samples tested. Reactives were retested for supplementary testing by Wellcozyme anti-HCV. Donors reactive in both tests and strongly reactive (ELISA ratio (ER) = optical density/cut off > or = 2.5) in either of them were permanently deferred. Those negative in the supplementary ELISA or weakly reactive (1.0 < or = ER < 2.5) in both tests were subjected to RIBA 2. On the basis of RIBA, positive donors were permanently deferred, indeterminates were excluded for 1 year and negatives were readmitted. In 1992, 1,347 supplementary tests were completed; 824 (61%) of the respective donors were permanently deferred, 218 (16%) were deferred for 1 year and 305 (23%) were readmitted.

Factor VIII production and usage in Hungary.

Factor VIII is supplied by the Hungarian Blood Transfusion Service mainly in the form of small‐pool cryoprecipitate. Blood for cryoprecipitate production is collected from non‐remunerated donors. About 600,000 voluntary donors, i.e. 6 percent of the population are giving blood yearly. Cryoprecipitate is produced by 39 blood centers distributed evenly within the country. In 1982 6.6times106 units of F.VIII was produced. There are 462 haemophilia A and 164 von Willebrand's patients in Hungary. 50 percent of the patients is under care in the National Institute and an appropriate percent of the national factor VIII production is also used here. 36 percent of our A patients belong to the severe form of the disease and are the main users of factor VIII. About 10% of the patients with von Willebrand's disease also need frequent factor replacement. The factor VIII supply of the regular users is estimated to be about 20,000 U/case/year.