Cytotoxins against a granulocyte antigen system: detection by a new method employing cytochalasin-B-treated cells.

A method for demonstrating granulocyte cytotoxins using a modified microdroplet dye exclusion technique and cytochalasin-B-treated cells is described. Cytochalasin-B-treated granulocytes were reacted against 223 sera from multitransfused pregnant and renal transplant patients. Incidence of granulocyte cytotoxins was 11.2%. Analysis (2 X 2 contingency tables) of the reactivity of GCT+ sera showed highly significant (p less than 0.001) positive associations among 5 sera and a significant (p less than 0.001) negative association with another serum. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that a granulocyte antigen system is detected by cytotoxins and that granulocyte antigens 'Grl' and 'Gr2' may be products of allelic genes.