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EDTA-Anticoagulated Whole Blood for SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing by Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)

Marc Kovac, Lorenz Risch, Sarah Thiel, Myriam Weber, Kirsten Grossmann, Nadja Wohlwend, Thomas Lung, Dorothea Hillmann, Michael Ritzler, Susanna Bigler, Francesca Ferrara, Thomas Bodmer, Konrad Egli, Mauro Imperiali, Sonja Heer, Yacir Salimi, Harald Renz, Philipp Kohler, Pietro Vernazza, Christian R. Kahlert, Matthias Paprotny & Martin Risch

abstract While lateral flow test formats can be utilized with whole blood and low sample volumes, their diagnostic characteristics are inferior to immunoassays based on chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technology. CLIAs and ELISAs can be automated to a high degree but commonly require larger serum or plasma volumes for sample processing. We addressed the suitability of EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood as an alternative sample material for antibody testing against SARS-CoV-2 by electro-CLIA (ECLIA; Roche, Rotkreuz, Switzerland) and ELISA (IgG and IgA; Euroimmun, Germany). Simultaneously drawn venous serum and EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood samples from 223 individuals were included. Correction of the whole blood results for hematocrit led to a good agreement with the serum results for weakly to moderately positive antibody signals. In receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis, all three assays displayed comparable diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve (AUC)) using corrected whole blood and serum (AUCs: 0.97 for ECLIA and IgG ELISA; 0.84 for IgA ELISA). In conclusion, our results suggest that the investigated assays can reliably detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in hemolyzed whole blood anticoagulated with EDTA. Correction of these results for hematocrit is suggested. This study demonstrates that the automated processing of whole blood for identification of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with common ECLIA and ELISA methods is accurate and feasible.
   
citation Kovac M, Risch L, Thiel S, Weber M, Grossmann K, Wohlwend N, Lung T, Hillmann D, Ritzler M, Bigler S, Ferrara F, Bodmer T, Egli K, Imperiali M, Heer S, Salimi Y, Renz H, Kohler P, Vernazza P, Kahlert C R, Paprotny M, Risch M. EDTA-Anticoagulated Whole Blood for SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing by Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Diagnostics (Basel) 2020; 10:.
   
type journal paper/review (English)
date of publishing 14-08-2020
journal title Diagnostics (Basel) (10/8)
ISSN print 2075-4418
PubMed 32823852
DOI 10.3390/diagnostics10080593