BackgroundTransfusion therapy remains a mainstay of treatment for patients with thalassemia major and to a lesser extent for the less anemic patients with thalassemia intermedia. We have previously reported a role for regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the control of antibody responses in wild-type C57BL/6 (WT) mice exposed to allogeneic red blood cell transfusions. As an initial step to study and characterize immune regulation in thalassemias, we performed an immunologic cell-type characterization of C57BL/6 Hbb(th-1)/Hbb(th-1) mouse model of thalassemia intermedia (Thal) in steady state as well as after transfusions with allogeneic blood.
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