Comparison of gel technology and red cell affinity column technology in antibody detection

Both column (gel) agglutination technology and red cell affinity column technology (ReACT^™) have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for antibody detection and identification. Parallel studies using these two methods were performed on 100 samples to evaluate their sensitivity, advantages, and disadvantages. Sixteen significant antibodies, anti-D(2), -C(1), -E(1), -c(1), -C,D(1), -K(4), -S(1), -Fy^a(3), -Jk^a(1), and -Jk^b(1), were found during the study. MTS-Gel detected one anti-D due to Rh immune globulin but missed one anti-Jk^a. ReACT missed one anti-D and one anti-Jk^b. MTS-Gel detected one anti-I and one anti-H whereas ReACT detected two anti- H but not anti-I. No false positive reactions were found by either method. Sensitivity based on this study for MTS-Gel is 93.3% and ReACT is 86.7%. Advantages for MTS-Gel included the small volume needed for testing, and the reaction was stable for 48 hours; for ReACT, there was less spin time and no special pipette was needed. Disadvantages for MTS-Gel included the need for a special pipette and manual preparation of 0.8% RBC suspensions, and the disadvantages for ReACT included the small column for reaction reading and the reaction was stable for only 24 hours.