title: A spectrophotometric method to precisely determine endpoint titers in complement fixation assays.
abstract: Since the early 20th century, complement fixation (CF) testing has been used to quantify the humoral response to various pathogens. The qualification of a positive result is based on a subjective determination of 30% lysis of sheep red blood cells, which can lead to variability in the analysis. A spectrophotometric reading of a standard with a known 30% lysis was used to standardize the currently used CF method and tested with controls and patient sera for various fungal assays. By utilizing this method a precise and non-subjective determination of endpoint titers was achieved.
authors.affiliation: ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, USA. ryan.welch@aruplab.com
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Merrigan
authors.forename: Julio C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Delgado
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000908:Antibodies, Fungal / Q000097:blood / Q000145:classification; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D023381:Endpoint Determination / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004912:Erythrocytes; D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000097:blood; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012756:Sheep; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D000908:Antibodies, Fungal