This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Google Scholar Articles by Binnicker, M. J. Articles by Beito, E. M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Binnicker, M. J. Articles by Beito, E. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clin. Vaccine Immunol. doi:10.1128/CVI.00082-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Evaluation of a Multiplex-Flow Immunoassay for the Detection of Epstein-Barr Virus-Specific Antibodies

Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota 55905

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: binnicker.matthew{at}mayo.edu.

	Abstract

Conventional methods for the detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific antibodies include immunofluorescence (IFA) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA). While sensitive and specific, these methods are labor intensive and require separate assays for each analyte. This study evaluated the performance of a multiplex bead assay (BioPlex 2200^TM, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) for the simultaneous detection of IgG and IgM-class antibodies to the EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) and IgG-class antibodies to the Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1). Serum specimens (n = 1,315) submitted for routine EBV-specific antibody testing by EIA (Grifols-Quest, Inc., Miami, FL) were also tested by the multiplex bead assay using the BioPlex 2200 automated analyzer. Specimens showing discordant results were tested by immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Following IFA resolution, the BioPlex VCA IgM, VCA IgG and EBNA-1 IgG assays demonstrated an agreement of 97.9%, 91.4% and 96.9%, respectively, with results obtained by EIA. Furthermore, the BioPlex assays showed an overall agreement of 94.1% with EIA when specimens were categorized by disease state (susceptible, acute, or past infection) based on the EBV-specific antibody profiles. These findings indicate that the BioPlex EBV assays demonstrate comparable performance to conventional EIA, while allowing for a more rapid [2.3 h v. 4.5 h (EIA) for 100 samples] and high-throughput [400 samples v. 200 samples (EIA) per 9 h] analysis of the EBV-specific antibody response.