[Detection of drug-induced antibodies to erythrocytes in the gel test].

Drug-induced immune hemolytic anemia is a serious hematological disorder which results from increased red blood cell destruction due to the production of autoantibodies, drug (metabolite)-dependent antibodies (DDAb) or both types of antibodies, even in one patient by the same drug. One of the major problems related to DDAb is that the causative drug (metabolite) usually does not bind tightly to target cells, and the antibodies are completely removed from the cells by conventional washing procedures, i.e. by the antiglobulin test. We have recently shown that the microtube geltest, by which the antiglobulin test is performed without washing the cells, is a highly sensitive and reliable alternative method for the detection of all kinds of DDAb. The results obtained with different DDAb are discussed.