PREDICTING HEMOLYTIC-DISEASE OF THE NEWBORN - A COMPARISON OF THE MONOCYTE MONOLAYER ASSAY AND THE CHEMILUMINESCENCE TEST

The ability of the monocyte monolayer assay (MMA) and the chemilumines cence test (CLT) to predict the clinical significance of alloantibodie s associated with hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) was assessed by the use of 22 well-characterized antisera-predominantly anti-D-from alloimmunized pregnant women. Seventeen sera were obtained before del ivery from women whose infants were antigen positive for the antibody specificities identified in the maternal serum. With testing of these 17 sera by MMA, 1 0 results were in agreement with the presence or abs ence of HDN, but there were 5 false-positive and 2 false-negative resu lts. With the CLT, 16 results were in agreement with the presence or a bsence of HDN, and there was 1 false-negative result. Five sera were o btained from women whose infants were antigen negative for the antibod y specificities identified in the maternal serum. The CLT and the MMA were both subject to false-positive results with these sera. These res ults suggest that the CLT may be more valuable than the MMA as a nonin vasive test for predicting the clinical significance of alloantibodies in HDN.