Complement-Dependent Cytotoxicity (CDC) to Detect Anti-HLA Antibodies: Old but Gold

Background The criterion (gold) standard to detect anti‐human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies is the complement‐dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) assay. Recently, more sensitive methods have been used for the same purpose. Methods This study analyzed 70 serum samples of patients with end‐stage renal disease using CDC, CDC with the addition of anti‐human globulin (CDC‐AHG), CDC with the addition of dithiothreitol (CDC‐DTT), and the recent solid‐phase immunoassay (SPI; Labscreen PRA) to detect anti‐HLA antibodies. Results Mean percent panel reactive antibodies (PRA) detected by SPI was 37.5% (±34.2) higher than the values detected by the other methods. Comparative analyses revealed significant difference between CDC and CDC‐AHG, and between CDC and SPI (P < 0.0001), but not between CDC‐AHG and SPI (P = 0.8026). Conclusion Although the CDC‐AHG method is “old,” its performance to detect anti‐HLA antibodies in the samples analyzed was comparable to the SPI in the evaluation of percent class I PRA.