Short Communication: Dried Blood Spots Stored at Room Temperature Should Not Be Used for HIV Incidence Testing
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: The limiting antigen (LAg)-avidity assay is a serologic assay used for cross-sectional HIV incidence testing. We compared the results obtained with the LAg-avidity assay using dried blood spot (DBS) samples stored at room temperature (18°C-25°C) or stored frozen at -80°C with results obtained from matched plasma samples. Matched DBS and plasma samples (306 paired samples) were collected in the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 068 trial in South Africa (2012-2014). The DBS were stored at room temperature before testing. Matched DBS and plasma samples (100 paired samples) from the Consortium for the Evaluation and Performance of HIV Incidence Assays (CEPHIA) were collected in 2016 and were stored at -80°C. All DBS testing was performed in 2017. Differences in normalized optical density (ODn) were compared between matched DBS and plasma samples. For DBS samples stored at room temperature (HPTN 068), the average difference in ODn values for plasma versus DBS was 1.49 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.36-1.62). In contrast, when DBS samples were stored at -80°C (CEPHIA), the average difference in ODn values for plasma versus DBS was -0.22 (95% CI: -0.32 to -0.13). DBS samples stored at room temperature should not be used for cross-sectional HIV incidence testing with the LAg-avidity assay.
Authors: Anna L. Eisenberg, Eshan U. Patel, Zoe R. Packman, Reinaldo E. Fernandez, Estelle Piwowar-Manning, Erica L. Hamilton, Catherine MacPhail, James Hughes, Audrey Pettifor, Esper G. Kallas, Michael P. Busch, Gary Murphy, Thomas C. Quinn, Susan H. Eshleman, Oliver Laeyendecker, for HPTN 068 and CEPHIA, Yaw Agyei, Jing Wang, Kathleen Kahn, Amanda Selin, F. Xavier Gomez-Olive, For CEPHIA: Christopher Pilcher, Breno R. Santos, Steven G. Deeks, Shelley Facente, Sheila M. Keating, Alex Welte
Institutions: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Family Health International 360, University of Wollongong, University of Washington, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of the Witwatersrand, Universidade de São Paulo, University of California, San Francisco, Blood Systems Research Institute, Public Health England
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Johns Hopkins University, Blood Systems Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, Universiteit Stellenbosch, National Institutes of Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Medical Research Council, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Awards: G1050281965, G1120543537, G115026442, G1310891712, G1349029785, G1531094742, G1579526946, G2239871464, G2672118316, G2993261131, G3166951867, G3230377489, G3598573620, G4456443839, G4892396737, G588041670, G6757287288, Carolina Population Center, G793395730, G9000025230, G9000027606, G9000035439, G9000072712, Training in Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV, CFAR Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS), University of North Carolina Global HIV Prevention and Treatment Clinical Trials Unit, G95499620, G95938990, G961682679, G97119092
OpenAlex ID: W2890318687