Comparing the Tube and Gel Techniques for ABO Antibody Titration, as Performed in Three European Centers

• Published in: Transplantation Vol. 84; no. 12; pp. S17 - S19
• Main Authors: KUMLIEN, Gunilla, WILPERT, Jochen, SÄFWENBERG, Jan, TYDEN, Gunnar
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott 27-12-2007
• Subjects: A/B antibody; A/B antibody titration; ABO antibody; ABO antibody titration; ABO Blood-Group System; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Group Incompatibility; direct agglutination; Europe; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Germany; Hemagglutination; Humans; immunoglobulin G (IgG); Immunoglobulin G - chemistry; immunoglobulin M (IgM); Immunoglobulin M - chemistry; Immunosuppressive Agents - therapeutic use; indirect agglutination; Kidney Transplantation - instrumentation; Kidney Transplantation - methods; Living Donors; Medical sciences; MEDICIN; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; MEDICINE; Miscellaneous; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Reproducibility of Results; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Sweden; Time Factors; Tissue, organ and graft immunology; Europe; Sweden; Germany; Center; Blood group; Tube; Antibody; ABO(H)-System; Graft; Technique; European; Comparative study; Public health
• ISSN: 0041-1337; 1534-6080; 1534-6080
• DOI: 10.1097/01.tp.0000296019.85986.af

Data from 60 consecutive ABO-incompatible kidney transplantations performed in Stockholm, Sweden; Freiburg, Germany; and Uppsala, Sweden, revealed significant variation in preoperative A/B antibody levels, with median titers of 1:32, 1:128, and 1:8, respectively. We wanted to investigate whether these differences were method-related. The same samples from 21 healthy blood donors were analyzed in the three centers using current local methods. Results confirmed method-related differences, with higher A/B titers in Freiburg and lower titers in Uppsala compared with Stockholm. Results for the same sample differed by a median of three (range 0 to 6) titer steps. When the same number of samples were analyzed in the three centers using the same gel method and the same test erythrocytes, results differed by a median of one titer step (range 0 to 4) for the same sample. In conclusion, gel hemagglutination technique significantly decreases intercenter variation compared with tube technique.