PROSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE CHEMILUMINESCENCE TEST FOR THE DETECTION OF GRANULOCYTE ANTIBODIES - COMPARISON WITH THE GRANULOCYTE IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE TEST

A series of 213 neutropenic patients were tested for the presence of g ranulocyte antibodies using the granulocyte chemiluminescence test (GC LT) and the granulocyte immunofluorescence test (GIFT). Sera containin g lymphocyte (HLA) antibodies were excluded from the study. A direct G IFT was performed on granulocytes from 56 patients. Samples were obtai ned from patients with a range of clinical conditions including primar y adult autoimmune neutropenia, autoimmune neutropenia of infancy, aut oimmune neutropenia secondary to Felty's syndrome, rheumatoid arthriti s, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, systemic lupus erythematosus, proliferative disorders, bone marrow transplantation and patients with documented febrile or pulmonary transfusion reactions. Overall, granu locyte antibodies were detected in 52.1% of patient sera. Results for the GCLT and GIFT (IgG) were strongly correlated (p<0.001) for both pr imary and secondary immune neutropenias. The results confirm the appli cability of the GCLT in the granulocyte serology laboratory.