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Abstract
Antibody screening is important for the antenatal screening and pre-transfusion tests. This study aimed to compare the MUT/Mur kodecytesAbtectcell III (CSL Abtectcell III) red cell antibody screening kit with DiaMed ID-Dia Cell I-II-III Asia that was then used in our laboratory. In this study, 125 samples were randomly chosen, with 67 samples of known antibody specificities and 58 samples identified as negative for antibody, as the negative control. Concordant negative results were obtained in 57 out of 58 antibody negative samples. Concordant antibody positive results with both reagents were seen in 49 out of 67 samples. There were 18 discrepant results of antibody screening with CSL Abtetcell III (16/18 for vMNS antibodies). The sensitivity and specificity for CSL Abtectcell III were 73.0% and 98.3% respectively. In conclusion, the CSL Abtectcell III reagent would be an acceptable alternative for screening of red cell alloantibodies. It was able to detect all the clinically significant alloantibodies.
Keywords: blood groups, RBC antigens and antibodies, vMNS
INTRODUCTION
Antibody screening and identification of unexpected blood group antibodies is important in the immunohaematological investigations of patients during antenatal screening and pre-transfusion tests.
Difficulties are often encountered when designing suitabl e sc r eening ce lls whe re knowledge of polymorphisms of blood group and the prevalence of antibody is not known or incomplete such as antibodies to variants MNS (vMNS). The detection of these antibodies is often problematic as current standard screening cells usually lack the antigens to detect these antibodies. This is particularly of concern in developing countries where almost all transfusion laboratories use commercially prepared screening cells rather than panels which are prepared from the local population. Current antibody screening reagents available for routine use have generally been manufactured in Western countries. They are less reliable in detecting antibodies common in Asian populations.
The use of current screening cells sourced from the local population is also a problem because not all antibodies detected are clinically significant and many antibodies detected are naturally occurring IgM antibodies that are unlikely to cause disease. IgG class antibodies against MUT, Vw, Mur, Hil and Mia antigens are clinically significant and capable of causing immediate and delayed Haemolytic Transfusion Reactions (HTRs) and mild to severe Haemolytic Disease of Fetus and Newborn (HDFN)....