A novel rapid immunoassay of serum type IV collagen 7S for the diagnosis of fibrosis stage of nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases.

Aim: Type IV collagen 7S (T4C7S) is a valuable biomarker for detecting liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The conventional T4C7S measurement via radioimmunoassay (T4C7S RIA) has shortcomings of radioisotope usage and longer assay periods. We compared T4C7S RIA with a newly developed, fast T4C7S chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (T4C7S CLEIA) and examined the diagnostic accuracies of and correlation between the two techniques.

Evaluation of the efficiency of dried blood spot-based measurement of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus seromarkers.

Although hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) virus infections are still global health issues, measuring sero-markers by standard venipuncture is challenging in areas limited with the adequate human resources and basic infrastructure. This study aimed to inform the usefulness of dried blood spot (DBS) sampling technique for epidemiological study of HBV and HCV in the resources limited areas. We compared specimen recovery rate expressed as analytical sensitivity ratio of HBsAg, HBcAb and anti-HCV between serum specimens and DBS samples (HemaSpot vs Whatman903).

Evaluation of the highly sensitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay "Lumipulse HBsAg-HQ" for hepatitis B virus screening.

Background: Ongoing efforts in the development of HBsAg detection kits are focused on improving sensitivity and specificity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an improved, highly sensitive quantitative assay, "Lumipulse HBsAg-HQ", a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay designed for a fully automated instrument, the "Lumipulse G1200".

Methods: Serum samples for reproducibility, dilution, correlation, sensitivity, and specificity studies were obtained from patients at the Osaka University Hospital.

[Development of Highly Sensitive Quantitative HBsAg Reagent and Its Availability].

HBsAg is an envelope surface protein of the hepatitis B virus, and a marker of hepatitis B infection. In Japan, an HBsAg reagent was adopted as a blood screening test by the Japan Red Cross in 1972. Furthermore, a highly sensitive HBsAg reagent has been in use since 2008.