A <i>New</i> Rh Antigen and Antibody

Abstract

An antibody, anti‐Wiel, defining an antigen, Wiel, in the Rh system, was found in the blood of a white woman who had been sensitized by transfusion and possibly by pregnancy. The inheritance of the antigen was studied in two families, one white, the other Negro. In them it was transmitted by cD u e or ℛ o In one family this could be refined to cD ac(d) e or ℛ o ac(d) . It was also found in the blood of an unrelated, white woman whose phenotype was R 1 cd r or Rh 1 cd rh and in that of an unrelated Negro whose phenotype was R 1 r. The antigen was not found on testing 2,600 random bloods, nearly all from Caucasians. It is thought it may prove to be less rare in Negroes.