THE USE OF POOLED RED-CELLS AND COLUMN TECHNIQUES FOR ROUTINE RED-CELL ANTIBODY DETECTION

The object of antibody screening is to detect all clinically relevant antibodies. In order to do this effectively red cells are selected wit h an appropriate antigen profile. The introduction of column technique s for antibody screening by indirect antiglobulin testing (IAT) and tw o-stage enzyme testing (ETC) is perceived to lead to an increased sens itivity and an ability to detect red cell antibodies more easily than by traditional tube techniques because reactions in columns are more e asily read and are stable. We evaluated the use of a column technology with pooled red cells for routine antenatal screening. The pooled cel ls used contained at least one cell with homozygous antigen expression for the majority of clinically significant antibodies known to be pre sent, except for Kell. Pooled cell results were not as easy to read in gel columns when compared with single cell results due to weaker reac tions which were often diffused throughout the gel in the column. We c oncluded that the use of pooled cells led to a decreased sensitivity w hich proved problematic for the interpretation of results. We used a t wo-cell and a three-cell pool and found that detection of known antibo dies was reduced in IAT and ETC methods.