Influence of specimen treatment on nonreactive HTLV-III sera. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Influence of specimen treatment on nonreactive HTLV-III sera.

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1987 Fall;3(3):333-40. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/88134688
McBride JH; Howanitz PJ; Rodgerson DO; Miles J; Peter JB; Department of Pathology, UCLA School of Medicine.

Abstract: We investigated effects of specimen treatment on HTLV-III antibody assay results. Freezing and thawing specimens 10 times did not increase specimen mean absorbance (A) values measured by the Abbott immunoenzymometric assay (IEMA). Heating blood donor serum specimens at 56 degrees C for at least 10 min inactivates virus, but converted 7.1% of nonreactive specimens to positive when measured by this IEMA. Also heating at 56 degrees C for 30 min increased A values of most specimens; however, the conversion to positive within assay ranged from 0 to 75%, with a mean of 17%. When 56 nonreactive patient specimens were heated, 55% became Abbott IEMA reactive, although ENI IEMA values did not increase and Western blot results remained nonreactive. Binding of immunoglobulins G and A to Abbott IEMA beads did not cause this conversion after heat treatment. We postulate that heating specimens causes alteration of some serum matrices and introduces nonspecific binding to assay bead antigen or antibody reagents. We recommend that for the Abbott IEMA, specimens may be stored frozen, and must not be heated to avoid altered reactivity.
Keywords: Antibodies, Viral/*ANALYSIS Blood Specimen Collection/*METHODS Human HIV/*IMMUNOLOGY Immunoenzyme Techniques Predictive Value of Tests Reagent Kits, Diagnostic Temperature JOURNAL ARTICLE

KWDantibodies,viral/KWDanalysisbloodspecimencollection/KWDmethodshumanhiv/KWDimmunologyimmunoenzymetechniquespredictivevalueoftestsreagentkits,diagnostictemperaturejournalarticle
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M8860426

Copyright © 1988 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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