title: A comparison of the analytical performance of five commercially available assays for neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin using urine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a promising biomarker for acute kidney injury that is beginning to be used in clinical practice in addition to research studies. The current study describes an independent validation and comparison of five commercially available NGAL assays, focusing on urine samples. This is an essential step in the translation of this marker to clinical use in terms of allowing valid inter-study comparison and generation of robust results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two CE (Conformité Européenne)-marked assays, the NGAL Test (BioPorto) on Siemens ADVIA(®) 1800 and the ARCHITECT Urine NGAL assay on i2000SR (Abbott Laboratories), and three research-use-only (RUO) ELISAs (R&D Systems, Hycult and BioPorto) were evaluated. Imprecision, parallelism, recovery, selectivity, limit of quantitation (LOQ), vulnerability to interference and hook effect were assessed and inter-assay agreement was determined using 68 urine samples from patients with various renal diseases and healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Abbott and R&D Systems assays demonstrated satisfactory performance for all parameters tested. However for the other three assays evaluated, problems were identified with LOQ (BioPorto/ADVIA(®)), parallelism (BioPorto ELISA) or several parameters (Hycult). Between-method agreement varied with the Hycult assay in particular being markedly different and highlighting issues with standardization and form of NGAL measured.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Variability exists between the five NGAL assays in terms of their performance and this should be taken into account when interpreting results from the various clinical or research studies measuring urinary NGAL.
authors.affiliation: Blood Sciences, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds KS1 3EX, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kift
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Messenger
authors.forename: Tobias C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Wind
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hepburn
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Matthew Welberry
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Catharine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sturgeon
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lewington
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Selby
authors.forename: Rosamonde E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Banks
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000652:urine*; D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000652:urine*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins / Q000652:urine*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000652:urine*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000592:standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; C489506:LCN2 protein, human; D000071068:Lipocalin-2; D054834:Lipocalins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic