WEHI Wednesday Seminar hosted by Professor Ian Wicks

Dr Behnaz Heydarchi

Senior Research Officer – Wicks Laboratory, Inflammation division, WEHI

Mining the Human Immune Repertoire for Global Prevention of Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and Newborn

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIWednesday

Including Q&A session
 

Rhesus D (RhD) is a blood group antigen found on human red blood cells (RBCs). When an RhD-negative (RhDneg) mother carries an RhD-positive (RhDpos) pregnancy, foetal RBCs can enter the maternal circulation and trigger an antibody response to the RhD antigen, which is perceived as foreign. This alloimmune response intensifies with each pregnancy, destroying foetal RBCs and leading to haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN).

HDFN has historically been a major cause of neonatal jaundice, recurrent miscarriage, and stillbirth, and it still causes over 160,000 perinatal deaths and 100,000 neurological disabilities each year. Currently, over 50% of pregnant women worldwide lack access to HDFN prevention. The burden is especially severe in developing countries, where the prevalence of HDFN is over 200 times higher than in developed nations.

Remarkably, prevention against HDFN is provided by administering polyclonal anti-RhD immunoglobulin G (RhD-pIgG), which is derived from the pooled plasma of RhDneg male donors immunised with RhDpos RBCs. While RhD-pIgG effectively reduces HDFN, this strategy has never met the needs of low-middle income countries and even in developed countries, is widely considered to be unsustainable. Alternative solutions are urgently needed, and this seminar will highlight recent progress towards a donor-independent, scalable and sustainable therapy for the global prevention of HDFN. 

All welcome!