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Niedrist T, Kriegl L, Zurl CJ, Schmidt F, Perkmann-Nagele N, Mucher P, Repl M, Flieder I, Radakovics A, Sieghart D, Radner H, Aletaha D, Binder CJ, Gülly C, Krause R, Herrmann M, Wagner OF, Perkmann T, Haslacher H. Preanalytical stability of SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies. Clin Chem Lab Med 2023; 61:332-338. [PMID: 36323338 DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2022-0875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Anti-nucleocapsid (NC) antibodies are produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, they are well suited for the detection of a previous infection. Especially in the case of seroprevalence studies or during the evaluation of a novel in-vitro diagnostic test, samples have been stored at <-70 °C (short- and long-term) or 2-10 °C (short-term) before analysis. This study aimed to assess the impact of different storage conditions relevant to routine biobanking on anti-NC antibodies. METHODS The preanalytical impact of short-term storage (84 [58-98] days) on <-70 °C and for 14 days at 2-10 °C was evaluated using samples from 111 donors of the MedUni Vienna Biobank. Long-term effects (443 [409-468] days) were assessed using 208 samples from Biobank Graz and 49 samples from Biobank Vienna. Anti-Nucleocapsid antibodies were measured employing electrochemiluminescence assays (Roche Anti-SARS-CoV-2). RESULTS After short-term storage, the observed changes did not exceed the extent that could be explained by analytical variability. In contrast, results after long-term storage were approximately 20% higher and seemed to increase with storage duration. This effect was independent of the biobank from which the samples were obtained. Accordingly, the sensitivity increased from 92.6 to 95.3% (p=0.008). However, comparisons with data from Anti-Spike protein assays, where these deviations were not apparent, suggest that this deviation could also be explained by the analytical variability of the qualitative Anti-NC assay. CONCLUSIONS Results from anti-NC antibodies are stable during short-term storage at <-70 °C and 2-10 °C. After long-term storage, a slight increase in sensitivity could not be ruled out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Niedrist
- Clinical Institute of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Lisa Kriegl
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectiology, Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Christoph J Zurl
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Division of General Paediatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Felix Schmidt
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Patrick Mucher
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Manuela Repl
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ines Flieder
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Astrid Radakovics
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Daniela Sieghart
- Department of Medicine III, Division of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Helga Radner
- Department of Medicine III, Division of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Daniel Aletaha
- Department of Medicine III, Division of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph J Binder
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christian Gülly
- Center for Medical Research (ZMF), Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Robert Krause
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectiology, Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Markus Herrmann
- Clinical Institute of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Oswald F Wagner
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Thomas Perkmann
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Helmuth Haslacher
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Abstract
Measuring SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies after vaccination or natural infection remains a priority in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to determine immunity, especially against newly emerging variants. The gold standard for assessing antibody-mediated immunity against SARS-CoV-2 are cell-based live virus neutralization assays. These assays usually take several days, thereby limiting test capacities and the availability of rapid results. In this study, therefore, we developed a faster live virus assay, which detects neutralizing antibodies through the early measurement of antibody-mediated intracellular virus reduction by SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR. In our assay, Vero E6 cells are infected with virus isolates preincubated with patient sera and controls. After 24 h, the intracellular viral load is determined by qRT-PCR using a standard curve to calculate percent neutralization. Utilizing COVID-19 convalescent-phase sera, we show that our novel assay generates results with high sensitivity and specificity as we detected antiviral activity for all tested convalescent-phase sera, but no antiviral activity in prepandemic sera. The assay showed a strong correlation with a conventional virus neutralization assay (rS = 0.8910), a receptor-binding domain ELISA (rS = 0.8485), and a surrogate neutralization assay (rS = 0.8373), proving that quantifying intracellular viral RNA can be used to measure seroneutralization. Our assay can be adapted easily to new variants, as demonstrated by our cross-neutralization experiments. This characteristic is key for rapidly determining immunity against newly emerging variants. Taken together, the novel assay presented here reduces turnaround time significantly while making use of a highly standardized and sensitive SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR method as a readout.
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Irene C, Elba M, Jiménez JL, Mellado MJ, Muñoz-Fernández MÁ. HIV HGM biobank as a research platform for paediatric infectious diseases and COVID-19 pandemic. AIDS Res Ther 2022; 19:22. [PMID: 35614512 PMCID: PMC9130977 DOI: 10.1186/s12981-022-00448-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
AIM The initial cases of COVID-19 appeared in December 2019 and Spain was one of the most affected countries during the first wave (March to June). Since then, HIV HGM BioBank has been restructured as an established Paediatrics and Adults HIV_COVID-19 BioBank that aims at the long-term storage of samples obtained from not only HIV-1, but also from COVID-19 patients and HIV-1_COVID-19 coinfected patients. METHODS HIV HGM BioBank holds high quality biological samples from newborns, children, adolescents and adults with their associated clinical data. Research groups trying to establish large networks focused on research on specific clinical problems in epidemiology, biology, routes of transmission and therapies, are potential users of the clinical samples and of associated data of HIV-1_COVID-19 HGM BioBank. RESULTS The HIV HGM BioBank is an academic and ethical enterprise complying with all the legal regulatory rules to provide service to the society. HIV_COVID-19 HGM BioBank has been repurposed to offer an important resource for global research of COVID-19 in newborns, children, adolescents, adults and elders to study the biological effect of the pandemic. CONCLUSION Herein, we present a description of how HIV HGM BioBank has rapidly become an indispensable structure in modern biomedical research, including COVID-19 research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Consuegra Irene
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain
- HIV HGM BioBank, Madrid, Spain
| | - Mauleón Elba
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain
- HIV HGM BioBank, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Luis Jiménez
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain
- HIV HGM BioBank, Madrid, Spain
- Plataforma-Laboratorio (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain
| | - María José Mellado
- General Pediatrics, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department Hospital, Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Ángeles Muñoz-Fernández
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
- HIV HGM BioBank, Madrid, Spain.
- Laboratorio InmunoBiología Molecular (HGUGM), Madrid, Spain.
- Head Immunology Section, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, C/Dr. Esquerdo 46, 28007, Madrid, Spain.
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