Cytokines as quality indicators of leucoreduced red cell concentrates.

Different types of filters are currently used for leucodepletion of red cell concentrates. These filters meet the specification for leucoreduction (<5 x 10(6) leucocytes/ATD) but the quality of the final product may differ depending on the performance of the filters for effective removal of both leucocytes, platelets and possibly cytokines which are associated with transfusion reactions. We measured the levels of three representative cytokines: IL-8, RANTES and TGF-beta1 in red cell concentrates prior to and subsequent to the filtration procedure on day 1 and after a storage period of 35 days. Low levels of IL-8 (10-24 pg/ml) in the control unfiltered concentrates on day 1 which increased by approximately twofold on storage. Filtration reduced the levels of IL-8 on day 1 and day 35, in filtered concentrates in comparison with their control unfiltered counterparts. Leucoreduced concentrates produced by three different filters showed similar IL-8 levels on day 1 and day 35. However, concentrates prepared using another type of process showed a twofold increase in IL-8 levels on storage in comparison with day 1. None of the concentrates tested contained any detectable RANTES and TGF-beta1 suggesting a minimal platelet content. These results indicate that a combination of IL-8, RANTES and TGF-beta1 are useful quality indicators for validation of leucoreduced red cell preparations.