Clinical Chemistry
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 55: 183-186, 2009. First published November 21, 2008; 10.1373/clinchem.2008.115162
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
clinchem.2008.115162v1
55/1/183    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Massart, C.
Right arrow Articles by d'Herbomez, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Massart, C.
Right arrow Articles by d'Herbomez, M.
(Clinical Chemistry. 2009;55:183-186.)
© 2009 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Brief Communications

Intermethod Variability in TSH-Receptor Antibody Measurement: Implication for the Diagnosis of Graves Disease and for the Follow-Up of Graves Ophthalmopathy

Catherine Massart1,2,a, Rémy Sapin3,4, Jacqueline Gibassier1, Arnaud Agin3,4 and Michèle d'Herbomez5,6

1 Unité Fonctionnelle d’Hormonologie, CHU de Rennes, France;2 INSERM 0203 Centre d’Investigation Clinique, Université de Rennes 1, France;3 Laboratoire d’Explorations Fonctionnelles par les Isotopes, CHRU de Strasbourg, France;4 ULP/CNRS UMR 7191, Faculté de Médecine, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France;5 Laboratoire de Médecine Nucléaire, Centre de Biologie-Pathologie, CHRU de Lille, France;6 Faculté de Médecine, Université Lille 2, France.

aaddress correspondence to this author at: 1 Unité Fonctionnelle d’Hormonologie, CHU de Rennes, France. Fax: 02 99 28 41 45; E-mail: catherine.massart{at}chu-rennes.fr.


Abstract

Background: We compared the analytical and clinical performance of 3 porcine thyroid receptor antibody (TRAb) methods (1 second- and 2 new third-generation systems) with the conventional TRAb assay based on the human recombinant TSH receptor (hTRAK).

Patients and Methods: We obtained sera from 86 patients with untreated Graves disease (GD) and 71 healthy controls. We measured TRAb concentrations by radioreceptor assay using the hTRAK (Brahms) or the porcine TSH receptor (pRRA) from Beckman-Coulter, by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) with the Elecsys/Cobas (Roche), and by ELISA using the Medizym TRAb clone (Medipan).

Results: Between-run assay imprecision was ≤10% and ≤7.6% for hTRAK and ECLIA, but reached 14% and 14.9% for ELISA and pRRA, respectively. Maximal specificity and sensitivity close to 100% were obtained for hTRAK, ECLIA, and ELISA. pRRA failed to detect positive TRAbs in 5 GD patients. Although calibrated against the same reference standard 90/672, the assays displayed a high intermethod variability. The results were significantly higher by ECLIA and lower by ELISA and pRRA compared with hTRAK. Patients with ophthalmopathy had higher TRAb results by ELISA and pRRA than those without eye disease.

Conclusions: Second- and third-generation TRAb assays had similar diagnostic sensitivities in the diagnostic evaluation of GD. Despite the use of the same reference standard for calibration, high intermethod variability in TRAb assay results was seen in untreated GD patients. Assay harmonization is necessary for correct interpretation in the follow-up of Graves ophthalmopathy.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.