JYJ

Thanks for your response! I agree that this seems like a logical "check" of treatment and we tried this with Anti-M and the cells were still weakly positive. I don’t believe that the antigens are always destroyed, but are “altered.” We did not feel like this was a good test of treatment as it could be very subjective and not as clear cut as N negative becomes macroscopically positive. While the literature I read does state that the M and N antigens are denatured, this was not a suggested method of checking the enzyme treatment. The published method is to test treated N negative cells with N lectin. Since the publication tell us to use N lectin, we were hoping to find another source of N lectin so that we would not have to complete a huge validation on another method that is not as reliable.

We currently purchase from them as well. We were informed that they are no longer going to be producing/selling N lectin.

Trypsin is a valuable enzyme used in our IRL. In order to determine if treatment is successful, we test trypsin treated reagent red cells with N lectin (Vicea Graminea). Trypsin treated N negative red cells test positive with N lectin. Unfortunately, we have been informed that our current suplier of N lectin is stopping production. We are in search of a new source of N lectin and are wondering what other labs are using. We have procedures for making the lectin ourselves, but we are unable to find a supplier of Vicea Graminea seeds. Any information is appreciated.