Latex agglutination test for ferritin measurement.
Ferritin is an indispensable parameter in the diagnosis of latent iron deficiency anemia or siderosis. In this study, we evaluated the utility of a reagent for ferritin measurement in a latex agglutination (LA) test, using general chemistry analyzers. The intraassay coefficient of variation (CV) was 0.8-3.4% and the interassay CV was 0.0-0.7%. Linearity was observed up to 1100 ng/mL. The effective sensitivity value was 4.0 ng/mL. In addition, good results were obtained with the prozone test, the effects of interferences, correlation with the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method, and functional assay sensitivity. A significant positive correlation with C-reactive protein (r=0.586, P<0.001) was found. When compared with liver-related biochemical parameters (asparate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)) in patients with impaired liver function, ferritin varied in parallel with the liver-related parameters. This assay system was able to measure ferritin accurately over a wide range, and thus could be used to diagnose cancer, siderosis, and iron deficiency anemia. The LA assay system can be employed for measurement with general chemistry analyzers, with rapid and convenient execution. In addition, the LA test allows the simultaneous measurement of other markers of iron deficiency anemia, so clinicians can rapidly obtain examination results.
Kotajima
Nobuo
N
Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Clinical Laboratory Center, Gunma University School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan. kotajima@showa.gunma-u.ac.jp
Ishizaka
Miki
M
Oshitani
Setsuko
S
Fukumura
Yukihito
Y
Ushijima
Yoshio
Y
Murakami
Masami
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D005293:Ferritins