Sickling-induced binding of immunoglobulin to sickle erythrocytes

Previously we demonstrated that sickle erythrocytes sedimenting at high densities after gradient centrifugation contain higher levels of surface immunoglobulin bound in vivo in comparison to low-density erythrocytes from the same patient. The present study examines the possibility that binding of autologous IgG to sickle erythrocytes may be associated with the sickling phenomenon. In the present study we subjected low-density erythrocytes to prolonged sickling under nitrogen in the presence of platelet-poor autologous plasma with added glucose for 24 hours (37 degrees C). After reoxygenation IgG bound in vitro was quantified by a nonequilibrium 125iodinated protein A-binding assay and by flow cytometry. Results show that sickle erythrocytes incubated under nitrogen bound significantly (P less than .001) more IgG, 439 +/- 41, molecules of IgG per cell (mean +/- SD) compared with sickle cells incubated under oxygenation (227 +/- 12 molecules of IgG per red cell) or compared with 196 +/- 26 molecules IgG per cell for untreated sickle cells. In contrast, normal erythrocytes incubated in autologous plasma exhibited no detectable IgG binding in vitro under either oxygenation or deoxygenation. Flow cytometry shows that deoxygenation of sickle cells generated a two-to-sixfold increase in the subpopulation of brightly fluorescent IgG-positive cells in comparison to oxygenated sickle cells and a 13.5% +/- 3.1% (mean +/- SD) increase in median fluorescence intensity for fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled deoxygenated sickled cells compared with labeled oxygenated sickle cells. Our studies demonstrate that prolonged sickling will induce in vitro binding of autologous IgG to sickle erythrocytes. These findings indicate that sickle erythrocytes may be unique when compared with erythrocytes from other nonimmunologic hemolytic anemias or senescent red cells in that the primary events producing surface antigens recognized by autoantibody may include the sickling process. These findings also suggest that sickling in vivo may generate membrane alterations in sickle erythrocytes that lead to cumulative binding of autoantibody in vivo.