title: Dried blood spots--preparing and processing for use in immunoassays and in molecular techniques.
abstract: The idea of collecting blood on a paper card and subsequently using the dried blood spots (DBS) for diagnostic purposes originated a century ago. Since then, DBS testing for decades has remained predominantly focused on the diagnosis of infectious diseases especially in resource-limited settings or the systematic screening of newborns for inherited metabolic disorders and only recently have a variety of new and innovative DBS applications begun to emerge. For many years, pre-analytical variables were only inappropriately considered in the field of DBS testing and even today, with the exception of newborn screening, the entire pre-analytical phase, which comprises the preparation and processing of DBS for their final analysis has not been standardized. Given this background, a comprehensive step-by-step protocol, which covers al the essential phases, is proposed, i.e., collection of blood; preparation of blood spots; drying of blood spots; storage and transportation of DBS; elution of DBS, and finally analyses of DBS eluates. The effectiveness of this protocol was first evaluated with 1,762 coupled serum/DBS pairs for detecting markers of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus infections on an automated analytical platform. In a second step, the protocol was utilized during a pilot study, which was conducted on active drug users in the German cities of Berlin and Essen.
authors: Institute of Virology, National Reference Centre for Hepatitis C, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen.
authors: Nico
authors: N
authors: Grüner
authors: Institute of Virology, National Reference Centre for Hepatitis C, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen.
authors: Oumaima
authors: O
authors: Stambouli
authors: Institute of Virology, National Reference Centre for Hepatitis C, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen; stefan.ross@uni-due.de.
authors: R Stefan
authors: RS
authors: Ross
mesh_terms: D059788:Dried Blood Spot Testing / Q000379:methods*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology