Development and evaluation of an element-tagged immunoassay coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection: can we apply the new assay in the clinical laboratory?

Introduction Element-tagged immunoassay coupled with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection has the potential to revolutionize immunoassay analysis in clinical detection; however, a systematic evaluation with the standard guidelines of the assay is needed to ensure its performance meets the requirements of the clinical laboratory. Methods Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was chosen for analysis using the proposed method. A systematic evaluation of the proposed assay was carried out according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The 469 clinical samples were analyzed using the new method and compared with the electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA) method. Results The measurement range of the assay was 1-900 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 0.83 ng/mL. The inter-assay and intra-assay imprecision were 4.67% and 5.38% with high concentration samples, and 9.27% and 17.64% with low concentration samples, respectively. The cross-reactivity (%) for different antigens was less than 0.05%, and the recovery was between 94% and 108%. Percentage deviation of all the dilutions was less than 12.5% during linearity estimation. The interference bias caused by different substances was less than 10%. The reference interval of the assay was 0-4.442 ng/mL. Comparison with the commercial ECLIA method for clinical sample detection, the proposed method showed a correlation of 0.9878 and no significant differences between the methods were observed (p = 0.6666). Conclusions The ICP-MS based immunoassay was successfully developed, and the analytical performance of the assay met the requirements of the CLSI, which fully proved the clinical transferability and application of the new method.