Determining the Concentration of Procalcitonin Using a Magnetic Particles-based Chemiluminescence Assay for the Clinical Diagnosis of Sepsis

Abstract

Our objective is to develop an assay based on magnetic particles (MPs) to determine the concentration of procalcitonin (PCT) using a chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA). Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and N-(aminobutyl)-N-(ethylisoluminol) (ABEI) were used to label two different anti-procalcitonin (PCT) monoclonal antibodies. The labeled antibodies, the PCT antigen, and the anti-FITC antibody-coated MPs formed a double-sandwiched immunocomplex. The measured relative light units (RLUs) of ABEI in the substrate solution were directly proportional to the amount of PCT present in the samples. The proposed method was linear to 600 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.03 ng/mL. The coefficient of variation (CV) was <5% and <6% for the intra- and inter-assay precision, respectively. The average recoveries were between 95 and 107%. The linearity-dilution effect gave a linear correlation coefficient of 0.9912. This proposed assay provided an alternative method to quantitatively measure PCT in serum for the diagnosis of sepsis.