POSTER LabCorp, SM Clinical Virology Symposium, May 8, 2017
Routine serological testing for antibodies to detect current or past exposure to infectious agents requires the collection of a blood sample by venipuncture, limiting sample collection to conventional healthcare settings. Using non-invasive samples for such testing is highly desirable, since it enables expansion of test access to non-conventional settings, such as health fairs and donor drives. Oral fluid, specifically mucosal transudate, contains measurable concentrations of immunoglobulins and has been used successfully as an alternative to serum for a limited number of applications. The content of oral fluid collections is highly variable, however, and the presence of interferents (e.g. mucous, saliva, microbes) can impact both the specificity and sensitivity of immunoassays optimized for serum or plasma samples. This has typically necessitated the development of assays that are specifically designed for using oral fluid as the test matrix. The availability of a pre-analytical technology that eliminates background interferents whilst simultaneously enriching the sample for the target analyte could potentially allow oral fluid to be widely utilized as a sample type for enzyme immunoassays (EIA) developed originally for blood-based testing. In this study, we demonstrate the ability of such a technology, namely the NanoTrap® system (Ceres Nanosciences; Manassas, VA), to concentrate and purify Cytomegalovirus (CMV) IgG from oral fluid collections enabling successful identification of seropositive individuals without the need for blood collection.
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