BACKGROUND: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis and bacterial infection diseases. METHODS: A new fully automated SphereLight PCT (SL-PCT) assay system for PCT concentration in human serum or plasma by using SphereLight 180 (SL180, Olympus Corp.) analyzer was developed. The SL-PCT assay is based on chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS: A linear dose response relationship was observed up to 200 ng/ml PCT concentration. The detection limit of PCT concentration was 0.06 ng/ml. Endogenous substances, anticoagulants, sodium fluoride and drugs did not interfere with assay results. There was a good correlation between the present method and the manual method in serum and plasma samples. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the SL-PCT assay showed good performance in terms of the linearity, detection limit and precision. Use of this PCT measurement may improve the detection of sepsis and infectious disease.
Determination of procalcitonin concentration using the SphereLight 180 clinical auto-analyzer. Publishing Authors By Initials