2025 Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 347-353
Currently, reagents that can simultaneously detect HTLV-I and HTLV-II antibodies are widely used in screening tests for infection with human T-cell leukemia virus types I and II. In the present study, we compared HTLV-I/II antibody reagents based on chemiluminescence (Elecsys Reagent Anti-HTLV I/II, HTLV-Abbott and Lumipulse HTLV I/II). In the sensitivity comparison, in HTLV-I, Lumipulse HTLV-I/II was twice as sensitive as the others. In HTLV-II, Lumipulse HTLV-I/II was equivalent to HTLV/Abbott, and was twice as sensitive as Elecsys HTLV-I/II. The agreement rate for the correlation between each reagent, including SERODIA HTLV-I, the reagent used at our hospital, was 94.8% to 100%. Comparing the measured values of SERODIA HTLV-I and each reagent, the correlation was best in HTLV-Abbott. The measured value of the discrepancy in the sample that occurred between each reagent was near the cut off value, and the cause was thought to be a difference in reagent reactivity due to differences in each reagent composition and principle. Regarding the reactivity in each reagents positive specimen to various specific antigens of the confirmation reagent INNOLIA HTLV, the concordance rate was best with the Elecsys HTLV-I/II. Therefore, the present comparative study of the three HTLV-I/II antibody reagents based on the chemiluminescence method, all of them can be used as screening reagents with good sensitivity and specificity, but it is necessary to pay attention to positive cases near the cut off value and understand the characteristics of the measured values before using them.
