Diagnostic performance of a fully automated hepatitis E virus antibody
immunoassay
Abstract
In immunocompetent patients with liver inflammation, the detection of
IgG and IgM antibodies against the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is important
for the diagnosis. Recently, fully automated chemiluminescence
immunoassays (CLIAs, LIAISON® Murex anti-HEV IgG/anti-HEV IgM test,
DiaSorin) have become available for this purpose. The diagnostic
suitability of these CLIAs was determined by comparison with a
combination of plate-based enzyme immunoassays ( recomWell HEV
IgG/IgM ELISA, Mikrogen) and immunoblots ( recomLine HEV IgG/IgM,
Mikrogen), which served as a reference for the characterization of sera.
Samples with a deviating result were retested with an alternative test
(WANTAI HEV IgG/IgM ELISAs). The anti-HEV IgG CLIA had a sensitivity and
specificity of 100% (100/100; 49/49) each when the recomWell HEV
IgG ELISA served as a reference. The anti-HEV IgM CLIA had a sensitivity
of 67.9% (36/53) and a specificity of 100% (49/49). When IgM
immunoblot results were considered, sensitivity and specificity were
88.9% (24/27) and 53.8% (14/26), respectively. The WANTAI test
confirmed 52.9% (9/17) of negative CLIA IgMs that differed from the
recomWell HEV IgM result. The CLIA revealed an isolated and thus
probably non-specific HEV IgM in one of 17 patients with acute
Epstein-Barr virus infection. The automated CLIAs are well suited for
HEV diagnostics.