Frozen-thawed mononuclear cells as a source of B lymphocytes for antibody screening.

B lymphocytes were isolated from fresh blood and frozen-thawed lymphocyte preparations from the same donors. A panel of 55 human antisera, previously found to react with human peripheral blood B lymphocytes in cytotoxicity assays, was screened against these B-cell preparations. There was essentially no difference in the reactions of B-cell antisera with fresh B lymphocytes when compared with frozen-thawed cells. The percentage recovery of B cells from the fresh and frozen preparations was not significantly different.