Comparison of Cryopreservation Methods of Rare Red Blood Cells Used for Antibody Identification Tests

Seo, Ji Weon; Han, Kyou Sup

Abstract

BACKGROUND: When a certain antibody, which is not clearly identified, is detected before transfusion, rare red blood cells (RBCs) should be used for antibody identification. But its rarity make it difficult to identify the antibody. This study compared the high glycerol method with the liquid nitrogen method for the cryopreservation of rare RBCs that are used for antibody identification.
METHODS
The frozen RBCs were thawed every 2 months to measure the strength of agglutination. We observed the changes of the strength of agglutination. The Di(a) antigen, which is relatively frequent in Asians, was included in this study.
RESULTS
Using the high glycerol method, the decrease of the strength of agglutination was observed with using the k antigen from 4 months and the decrease of the strength of agglutination was observed with using M, N, s, Le(a), Le(b) and Fy(b) antigens from 8 months. With freezing the donor RBCs by the liquid nitrogen method, the decrease of the strength of agglutination was observed with using the C, s, k and Le(b) antigens from 2 months, with using the M and S antigens from 4 months, with using the D, c, e, N and Fy(a) antigens from 6 months and with using the Le(a) antigen from 8 months. Rare RBCs with the Di(a) antigen were successfully cryopreserved for 6 months with using the high glycerol method. For the commercial screening cells, the high glycerol method showed effective cryopreservation with using c, e, M, k, Le(a), Le(b), Jk(a) and Fy(b) antigens for 6 months or longer.
CONCLUSION
We were able to preserve most of the important antigens of the RBCs for at least 6 months without a significant decrease of reactivity by employing the high glycerol cryopreservation technique.