Question

why does monoclonal anti-A and monoclonal anti-B eliminate the need for anti-A, B reagent?

Answer 1

Anti A or B reagent are used for the determination of the blood group of an individual. These reagents detect the type of antigen (A/B) present on the surface of the RBC as glycoproteins which are encoded by the 3 alleles ABO. So the anti A/B antibody react with corresponding antigen A or B respectively and result in agglutination of the blood. And do not form any lump in case of O antigen.

There are some limitations of these reagents:

1. There are subtypes of blood groups which differ in the concentration of the antigen present. There are two subtypes of A antigen i.e A1, A2. These subtypes are different from one another and result in adverse effect during blood transfusion. The anti A or B reagents cannot detect them as different from A blood group.

2. The reactivity of anti A or anti b in the blood serum of new horns, old or immunosuppressive individuals is reduced or eventually lost.

The development of monoclonal Anti A and B has been able to overcome these limitations of the reagent. The monoclonalAnti A and Anti A,B are particularly suitable for the detection of Ax subtype, by the usage of appropriate technique.

Therefore in this way these Monoclonal Anti A and Anti B eliminate the need for anti A or B reagent.