[Suitability of monoclonal reagents in determination of ABO blood group of newborn infants].

Background: Weak expression of ABO antigens in newborns has been known for many years. In the near future reduced availability of polyclonal sera for ABO testing is to be expected. Therefore, it was the aim of our study to compare the suitability of monoclonal reagents for ABO testing of newborns to that of polyclonal sera.

Material and methods: One monoclonal and 1 polyclonal reagent of each of the specificities anti-A, and anti-B and anti-AB from 7 manufacturers were tested by titration with blood from 5 newborns of blood group A, 5 of blood group B, and 3 of blood group AB.

Results: All monoclonal anti-A reagents showed better results than the polyclonal sera (for newborns of blood group A on the average of the 7 pairs of reagents 1.3 geometrical titration steps). Most of the monoclonal anti-B reagents showed higher titers than the polyclonal sera (on the average for newborns of blood group B 0.7 titration steps). Also most monoclonal anti-AB reagents were stronger than the polyclonal sera in testing newborns of blood group B the monoclonal anti-AB-reagents were slightly weaker than the polyclonal sera (on the average 0.4 titration steps).

Conclusion: Use of monoclonal reagents for ABO testing of newborns shows some advantages in comparison to the use of polyclonal sera.