Table 3. Effect of Enzymes and Dithiothreitol (DTT). Antibody | Effect of Enzymes (Ficin and Papain) | Effect of DTT |
Anti-D | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-C | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-c | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-E | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-e | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-Cw | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-K | Resistant | Sensitive |
Anti-k | Resistant | Sensitive |
Anti-Kpa | Resistant | Sensitive |
Anti-Jsa | Resistant | Sensitive |
Anti-Fya | Sensitive | Resistant |
Anti-Fyb | Sensitive | Resistant |
Anti-Jka | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-Jkb | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-Lea | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-Leb | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-P1 | Enhanced | Resistant |
Anti-M | Sensitive | Resistant |
Anti-N | Sensitive | Resistant |
Anti-S | Usually Sensitive; Some Variable | Resistant |
Anti-s | Usually Sensitive; Some Variable | Resistant |
Table 4. Summary of Enzyme Effects. Enhanced | Decreased | Unaffected |
Rh system Kidd system Lewis system P1
| MNS system Duffy system
| Kell system |
Enhanced by enzymes which will strengthen agglutination reaction | Sensitive to enzyme effects thus a decrease in agglutination | Resistant to enzyme effects |
Note that only the Kell blood group from Table 3 is sensitive to DTT. DTT dissolves disulfide bonds and was historically used to distinguish between IgM and IgG antibodies. Most IgG antibodies are unaffected by DTT. Kell system is affected (sensitive) by DTT as they have disulfide bonds.