Studies on the A, B, O(H) Blood Groups on Human Cells in Culture

HeLa cells were used in the mixed agglutination reaction to determine optimal conditions for demonstrating blood group H activity by this method. The following parameters were studied in the mixed agglutination reaction: (1) derivation of cell line, (2) cell viability, (3) effects of antibody titer, (4) source and type of antibody. Studies with primary human amnion cells indicated that over a 30-day period of cultivation in vitro there were losses in specific ABO blood group activity. Addition of blood group precursors to establish human amnion cell lines FL-J and F-D indicated that blood group B antigen could be synthesized and maintained in vitro.