title: Involvement of complement and RA factor in non-specific agglutination of the latex reagent for HAA.
abstract: Heat inactivation of fresh sera reduced significantly the proportion of false-positive reactions when the latex agglutination test for the detection of HAA was used in a series of 454 sera, possibly because heating destroys the C'lq fraction of complement. Non-specific agglutination also occurred if RA factor was present in sera tested, a fact that has been previously reported. This rapid and simple test may be very convenient as a screening procedure, but all positive sera should be tested again by means of a more specific method, as well as for RA factor. Improvement of the reagent may result in the elimination of false-negative results, which were no-observed in this study but have been reported by others.
mesh_terms: D003172:Complement C1 / Q000378:metabolism; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor
chemical_list: D003172:Complement C1; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor