Human lymphoid cell lines as targets for DRw.

Cultured human lymphoid cell lines (LCL) are useful as a source of target cells in several immunologic assays. More recently such cells have been used for the serological characterizations of the HLA-DR antigens. Typing of the same LCL in various laboratories during the VII Histocompatibility Workshop has given comparable results with a discordancy rate of less than 10%. This discordancy is likely to reflect the different sources of complement that can greatly alter the results of cytotoxic assays. The presence of naturally occurring antibody in rabbit complement to human cells can be avoided by: (a) absorbing with human cells at 0 degrees C; (b) dilution with human serum; (c) dilution with heat-inactivated rabbit serum; (d) repeated freeze-thawing of the complement; or (e) careful selection of complement by screening procedures. Comparison of the results of HLA-DR typing of LCL with peripheral B-cells of the same donor show good correlations. However, LCL will occasionally give extra reactions perhaps due to the expression of new antigens. LCL can be coated with F(ab')2 fragments from antihuman beta2-microglobulin antibodies that block reactions of HLA-A, -B and -C antibodies allowing for discrimination of anti-DRw activity.