2017 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 212-216
The sensitivities of human metapneumovirus antigen detection kits, which were developed on the basis of immunochromatography technology, were compared. The kits tested were Primecheck® hMPV, Prorast hMPV, CHECK hMPV, Quick Chaser® hMPV, and Imunoace® hMPV. The comparison was performed with 6 strains of human metapneumovirus stocks, namely, one sample each of hMPV subgroups A2a, A2b, and B1 (laboratory strains), and one sample each of nasal aspirate of subgroups A2a, B1, and B2 (clinical specimens), which were confirmed to be hMPV positive by PCR. The minimum concentration detection limits of these kits were compared for each viral strain by investigating the maximum dilution rate of the viral stock giving a positive result. Results showed that the detection limits differed between products, the difference being up to 33 times in all six specimens. Then, the virus gene copy number concentration of each specimen was measured, where the minimum detection sensitivity was expressed as a detection limit copy number concentration, in the range from 106 to 108 copies/mL. When comparing the results of each kit with the geometric mean of all the kits, there were also kits with the lowest or highest dilution showing reactions for all six specimens and with a statistically significant difference. However, I was unable to prove that there is a significant difference in sensitivity performance against hMPV antigens in general between the products.
