About 2-10% of patients with warm-antibody
autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAIHA) exhibit a negative direct Coombs test (DAT), requiring more sensitive tests, including detection of RBC-bound
immunoglobulins by flow cytometry, for diagnosis. In this study, the optimal conditions for detection and quantitation of RBC-bound
IgG by flow cytometry were studied using blood samples from six patients with AIHA and two healthy individuals. Quantitation of RBC-bound
IgG was performed using quantum simply cellular (QSC) beads coated with goat anti-mouse
IgG antibodies. For detection of RBC bound
IgG, a 60-minute incubation of all blood samples with 40 microl of 1:10 dilution of
FITC-conjugated mouse anti-human
IgG gave mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) values comparable to experiments using larger amounts or higher concentrations of the anti-human
IgG. The acquired antibody binding capacity (ABC) values (or
IgG molecules) for each QSC bead level, at 40 microl of 1:5 and 1:10 dilution of anti-human
IgG for 60 minutes were close to the manufacturer-assigned ABC values. The
IgG molecules per RBC in all six patients with positive DAT of 4+, 3+, 2+, 1+, trace and negative DAT were 31,725, 3,823, 1,753, 524, 260 and 88 respectively and in two healthy individuals with negative DAT they were 104 and 78.