Occurrence of Cytotoxic Antibodies During Pregnancy

Abstract

Abstract. Sera from 1,001 pregnant women were drawn at the time of delivery and examined for the presence of cytotoxic antibodies directed against their husbands' lymphocytes. 12.3% of all the women had cytotoxins in serum at delivery. The frequencies ranged from 9.6% in first pregnancies to 18.2% in women with more than 3 pregnancies. The occurrence of foeto‐maternal leucocyte immunization is discussed and a review of the literature is given.