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Scientific article
Open access
English

Development and Validation of the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoassay as a Highly Specific Tool for Determining Past Exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Published inJournal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 58, no. 10, p. e01694-20
Publication date2020
Abstract

The Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay (Roche Diagnostics) was developed to provide accurate, reliable detection of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We evaluated sensitivity, specificity, cross-reactivity, and agreement with a vesicular stomatitis virus-based pseudoneutralization assay for the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay. Sensitivity and agreement between Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay and pseudoneutralization assay measurements were evaluated using samples from patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, a majority of whom were hospitalized. Specificity was evaluated using samples from routine diagnostic testing/blood donors collected before December 2019 and thus deemed negative for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Cross-reactivity was evaluated using samples containing a wide range of potentially cross-reacting analytes, purchased from commercial vendors. For sensitivity and specificity, point estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Agreement between the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay and the pseudoneutralization assay was calculated. The sensitivity of the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay in patients with prior PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was 99.5% (95% CI, 97.0 to 100.0%) at ≥14 days post-PCR confirmation. Overall specificity (n = 10,453) was 99.80% (95% CI, 99.69 to 99.88%). Only 4/792 samples containing potential cross-reacting analytes were reactive with the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay, resulting in an overall specificity in this cohort of 99.5% (95% CI, 98.6 to 99.9%). Positive, negative, and overall agreement (n = 46) between the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay and the pseudoneutralization assay were 86.4% (95% CI, 73.3 to 93.6%), 100% (95% CI, 34.2 to 100%), and 87.0% (95% CI, 74.3 to 93.9%), respectively. The Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay demonstrated high sensitivity (99.5% at ≥14 days post-PCR confirmation) and specificity (99.80%), supporting its use as a tool for identification of past SARS-CoV-2 infection, including use in populations with low disease prevalence.

Keywords
  • Antibodies, Viral/blood
  • Betacoronavirus/immunology/isolation & purification
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques
  • Coronavirus Infections/blood/diagnosis/epidemiology
  • Cross Reactions
  • Humans
  • Immunoassay
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
Citation (ISO format)
MUENCH, Peter et al. Development and Validation of the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoassay as a Highly Specific Tool for Determining Past Exposure to SARS-CoV-2. In: Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2020, vol. 58, n° 10, p. e01694–20. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01694-20
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0095-1137
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Technical informations

Creation12/14/2020 11:25:00 AM
First validation12/14/2020 11:25:00 AM
Update time03/16/2023 12:18:07 AM
Status update03/16/2023 12:18:06 AM
Last indexation08/31/2023 12:50:36 AM
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