Comparison of monoclonal antibody methods and a ribosomal ribonucleic acid probe test for Neisseria gonorrhoeae culture confirmation

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 1993-03, Vol.12 (3), p.177-184
• Main Authors: JANDA, W. M, WILCOSKI, L. M, MANDEL, K. L, RUTHER, P, STEVENS, J. M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies, Monoclonal - immunology; Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hemagglutination Tests; Humans; Microbiology; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - genetics; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - immunology; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - isolation & purification; RNA Probes; RNA, Bacterial - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/BF01967108

Recently, a chemiluminescent nucleic acid probe test that specifically detects the ribosomal ribonucleic acid of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been released for clinical laboratory use (AccuProbe Neisseria gonorrhoeae). In this study, three coagglutination tests (GonoGen I, Meritec GC, and GC Omni), the GonoGen II immunofiltration method and the Micro Trak Neisseria gonorrhoeae fluorescent monoclonal antibody test were compared with AccuProbe for identification of gonococci. Strains tested (n = 376) included 194 Neisseria gonorrhoeae, 82 Neisseria meningitidis, 32 Neisseria lactamica, 32 Neisseria species, 32 Moraxella catarrhalis, 2 Moraxella spp. and 2 Kingella denitrificans. The GonoGen I, Meritec GC and GC Omni coagglutination tests produced clearly positive results for 93.8%, 92.3% and 95.9% of the gonococci, respectively. The GonoGen II unequivocally identified 91.8% and the MicroTrak fluorescent antibody test identified 90.7% with 2+ or greater fluorescence. AccuProbe identified 100% of the gonococci tested. GonoGen I and GonoGen II were 98% specific, Meritec GC was 99% specific and the specificity of the GC Omni, MicroTrak fluorescent antibody and AccuProbe tests was 100%. While antibody-based tests were reliable when results were clearly interpretable, the AccuProbe was the only confirmatory test that was 100% accurate. Serotyping studies indicate that an array of beta-lactamase positive and negative gonococcal serotypes fail to react with the monoclonal antibody-based tests in general and with the fluorescent antibody test in particular.