title: Resolution of plasma sample mix-ups through comparison of patient antibody patterns to E. coli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accidental sample mix-ups and the need for their swift resolution is a challenge faced by every analytical laboratory. To this end, we developed a simple immunoblot-based method, making use of a patient's characteristic plasma antibody profile to Escherichia coli (E. coli) proteins.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nitrocellulose strips of size-separated proteins from E. coli whole-cell lysates were incubated with patient plasma and visualised with an enzyme-coupled secondary antibody and substrate. Plasma samples of 20 random patients as well as five longitudinal samples of three patients were analysed for antibody band patterns, to evaluate uniqueness and consistency over time, respectively. For sample mix-ups, antibody band patterns of questionable samples were compared with samples of known identity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparison of anti-E. coli antibody patterns of 20 random patients showed a unique antibody profile for each patient. Antibody profiles remained consistent over time, as shown for three patients over several years. Three example cases demonstrate the use of this methodology in mis-labelling or -pipetting incidences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our simple method for resolving plasma sample mix-ups between non-related individuals can be performed with basic laboratory equipment and thus can easily be adopted by analytical laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: vetter.beatrice@virology.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Beatrice N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Vetter
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: vanessa.orlowski@uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Orlowski
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: schupbach.jorg@virology.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schüpbach
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: boeni.juerg@virology.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Böni
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: ruehe.bettina@virology.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rühe
authors.affiliation: Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, Institute of Medical Virology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: huder.jon@virology.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Jon B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Huder
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000379:methods; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology; D006405:Hematology / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D019300:Medical Errors
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial
keywords: Analytical laboratory; E. coli; Identification; Method; Sample mix-up