MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES TO HIGH-INCIDENCE KELL EPITOPES - CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION IN AUTOMATED SCREENING OF DONOR SAMPLES

Monoclonal antibodies, LM313/706 and LM357/828, recognize high-frequen cy epitopes which are absent on red cells of Ko phenotype. Both antibo dies have proved suitable for automated screening of blood donor sampl es, with 5 ml of each culture supernatant sufficient to screen 3,000 d onor samples. In a screen of 45,545 samples, LM313/706 revealed 11 sam ples (1:3686) of Kp(a+b-) phenotype. Thirty-seven samples of K+k- phen otype were identified in 15,235 samples screened with LM357/828 antibo dy (0.24%). The epitope recognized by LM313/706 was inactivated by 2 m M DTT suggesting a possible association with the Js(a)/Js(b) antigen s tructure. The expression of the k-like epitope detected by LM357/828 a ntibody was found to be influenced by pH change.