Summary of IL-10 responses by PBMCs from AIHA patients to RhD autoantigen peptides.

Shown here (▪) is the proportion of the AIHA patients tested (n = 11) with PBMCs that produced only IL-10 in response to each of the 42 peptides from the panel spanning the RhD protein. Also shown (■) are the results of parallel studies32 to map the dominant naturally processed epitopes from the RhD protein, which elicit proliferation by PBMCs from RhD-negative healthy donors who have been immunized with RhD-positive RBCs (n = 22). There is a significant correlation (R_s = 0.37,P < .02) between the abilities of each RhD peptide to elicit autoreactive IL-10 responses in the AIHA patients and alloreactive Th proliferation in the group of immunized healthy donors.