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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The manual Polybrene test has limited sensitivities for detecting the Kidd blood group system

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Pages 797-800 | Received 06 Feb 2008, Accepted 20 Jul 2009, Published online: 25 Nov 2009
 

Abstract

Background and objectives: The Kidd system antibodies, if undetected, can cause immediate or delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions as well as hemolytic disease of the newborn. There have been anecdotal reports about the inefficiency of the manual Polybrene test in detecting these antibodies. Here, we sought to determine the sensitivity of the manual Polybrene test in detecting anti-Jka and anti-Jkb antibodies and Jka and Jkb antigens. Materials and methods: Ten archived anti-Jka/Jkb antibody positive human sera were examined by both the manual Polybrene test and the indirect antiglobulin test using polyspecific antibodies, monospecific anti-IgG antibodies and anti-C3 antibodies. Furthermore, 40 randomly selected donor blood samples were collected and phenotyped for the frequencies of Jka and Jkb antigens using the manual Polybrene test and the indirect antiglobulin test. The results from these tests were further confirmed by saline tube tests. Results: The manual Polybrene test displayed an overall sensitivity of 60% in detecting anti-Jka and anti-Jkb antibody. Specifically, it had a sensitivity of 57.14% for anti-Jka antibody and a sensitivity of 66.7% for anti-Jkb antibody. Furthermore, the manual Polybrene test exhibited a sensitivity of 46.15% for Jka antigen and a sensitivity of 77.42% for Jkb antigen. Conclusion: The manual Polybrene test has a very low sensitivity in detecting anti-Jka and anti-Jkb antibody, especially anti-Jka antibody. It is also a very insensitive test for detecting Jka antigen.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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