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Blood transfusion has evolved to a sophisticated medical treatment. Over the past 30 years
or so, improvements in blood collection and storage materials changed blood transfusion
from a relatively nonspecific treatment to a therapy treating specific hematopoietic and
coagulation disorders with blood components proven to abate the disorder.
In many medical arenas, transfusions have declined in favor of other therapies. However,
therapies for many diseases still require blood transfusion.
Recognition of ABO groups was the first step in increasing transfusion safety. In the ensuing
years, compatibility testing increased the safety of the transfusion to the recipient. Despite
the overall improvement in transfusion safety, one area--transfusion reaction--still presents
risk to the recipient.
The causes for the majority of life-threatening transfusion reactions are well understood and
most reactions themselves are preventable. Well-established transfusion protocols ensure a
successful final outcome. One of the best examples of this is the acute hemolytic transfusion
reaction, which is most often caused by ABO incompatibility. Careful patient, patient/sample
and blood/recipient identification, as well as laboratory testing, prevent almost all such
transfusion reactions.
What is a Cytokine?
Cytokines fall into three basic functional groups: hematopoietic cell growth and differentiation
stimulators, natural inflammation mediators and specific immune response regulators1,2,4 (see
Table 1). Some cytokines' effects may fall into more than one category.
Cytokines in HTR
The role of cytokines in hemolytic transfusion reactions (HTR) is not well characterized. 1
Cytokines with known involvement include interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF),
interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP), and
interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra).1-4 The activities of these substances and others