Evaluation of dried blood spots with a multiplex assay for measuring recent HIV-1 infection

• Published in: PloS one 2014-09, Vol.9 (9), p.e107153-e107153
• Main Authors: Curtis, Kelly A, Ambrose, Krystin M, Kennedy, M Susan, Owen, S Michele
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Analytical chemistry; Antibody Affinity; Assaying; Avidity; Biology and life sciences; Biomarkers; Blood; Calypte; Coefficient of variation; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diagnosis; Disease prevention; Dried Blood Spot Testing - methods; Drug resistance; Epidemiological Monitoring; Filter paper; Health aspects; HIV; HIV infections; HIV Infections - diagnosis; HIV tests; HIV-1 - genetics; Homosexuality, Male; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Immunoassay; Infections; Male; Measurement; Medical diagnosis; Medicine and health sciences; Multiplexing; Plasma - virology; Population statistics; RNA, Viral - blood; Specimen Handling - methods; Spots; Viral Load
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107153

Laboratory-based HIV tests for recent infection (TRIs), which primarily measure a specific serological biomarker(s) that distinguishes recent from long-term HIV infection, have facilitated the estimation of population-based incidence. Dried blood spots (DBS) on filter paper are an attractive sample source for HIV surveillance, given the simplified and cost-effective methods of specimen collection, storage, and shipment. Here, we evaluated the use of DBS in conjunction with an in-house multiplex TRI, the HIV-1-specific Bio-Plex assay, which measures direct antibody binding and avidity to multiple HIV-1 analytes. The assay performance was comparable between matched plasma and DBS samples from HIV-1 infected individuals obtained from diverse sources. The coefficients of variation, comparing the median antibody reactivity for each analyte between plasma and DBS, ranged from 2.78% to 9.40% and the correlation coefficients between the two sample types ranged from 0.89 to 0.97, depending on the analyte. The correlation in antibody reactivity between laboratory and site-prepared DBS for each analyte ranged from 0.87 to 0.98 and from 0.90 to 0.97 between site-prepared DBS and plasma. The correlation in assay measures between plasma and DBS indicate that the sample types can be used interchangeably with the Bio-Plex format, without negatively impacting the misclassification rate of the assay.