Validity of multiplex-based assays for cytokine measurements in serum and plasma from “non-diseased” subjects: Comparison with ELISA

• Published in: Journal of immunological methods Vol. 350; no. 1; pp. 125 - 132
• Main Authors: Dossus, Laure, Becker, Susen, Achaintre, David, Kaaks, Rudolf, Rinaldi, Sabina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 31.10.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Blood Donors; Cytokine; Cytokines - analysis; Cytokines - blood; ELISA; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - methods; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - standards; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Humans; Molecular immunology; Multiplex-based assays; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; Sensitivity and Specificity; Serum - chemistry; Serum - metabolism; Techniques; Multiplex-based assays; Epidemiology; Cytokine; ELISA; Serum; ELISA assay; Immunological method
• ISSN: 0022-1759; 1872-7905; 1872-7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2009.09.001

Multiplex-based immunoassays (MIA) allow the simultaneous measurement of different cytokines in small sample volumes, but their applicability in samples from “healthy” subjects, as those participating in large-scale epidemiological studies is not well known. We compared measurements of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), C-reactive protein (CRP) and soluble CD40L (sCD40L) obtained by MIA with those obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in serum and plasma samples from 36 “healthy” subjects. We observed good correlations between measurements obtained by MIA and ELISA for IL-1Ra, CRP and sCD40L ( r > 0.80) but poor correlations for IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β ( r < 0.40). When comparing MIA plasma and serum measurements, very high correlations were obtained for CRP ( r = 0.98) and fairly good correlations for IL-1Ra ( r = 0.60). In conclusion, multiplex-based assays can give an accurate estimate of the relative risk in large-scale epidemiological studies but only for cytokines that are present in relatively large concentrations (ng/mL).