title: HBsAg blood screening and diagnosis: performance evaluation of the ARCHITECT HBsAg qualitative and ARCHITECT HBsAg qualitative confirmatory assays.
abstract: A low initial reactive rate for screening assays is important for time- and cost-effective infectious disease testing. Therefore, the new ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative screening assay, in conjunction with the new ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative Confirmatory assay, was introduced. As the role of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) as surrogate marker for HBV resolution and the monitoring of drug effectiveness are becoming increasingly important, the established ARCHITECT HBsAg Quantitative assay remains available on the market. Precision, sensitivity, and specificity of the newly developed screening assay were in the range of established HBsAg assays. Seroconversion sensitivity was slightly superior compared to other commercially available assays. An initial reactive rate of 0.2% (without HBsAg-confirmed positive samples of 0.17%) for the ARCHITECT HBsAg Qualitative assay was observed. As the new screening assay is a 1-step assay format, the "high-dose hook effect" was investigated to assess the risk of false-negative results, but even very high positive HBsAg samples obtained signals clearly above the cutoff.
authors.affiliation: Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Wiesbaden-Delkenheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popp
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krams
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beckert
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buenning
authors.forename: Lucinda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Queirós
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piro
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luciani
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roebbecke
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kapprell
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens