Reference intervals for growth arrest-specific 6 protein in adults

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish reference intervals for growth arrest-specific 6 (GAS6), a vitamin K-dependent protein, in human adult plasma according to the Guideline of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) C28-A3. Blood samples were collected from 308 healthy volunteers aged 18–72 (157 female, 151 male). A non-parametric approach was used to calculate the reference interval. The plasma GAS6 reference interval was determined, with 90% confidence interval: the lower limit (2.5 percentile) was 2.5 (1.9–3.1) μg/L and the upper limit (97.5 percentile) = 18.8 (18.0–22.3) μg/L. Harris-Boyd’s test did not suggest partitioning by age or gender: medians for males [7.8 (5.8–10.7) μg/L] and females [9.9 (7.1–13.5) μg/L]. Three age-subgroups were tested: 18–29 years (n = 168); 30–44 years (n = 73); 45–72 years (n = 67). The intra- and inter-assay variations were 12.6% (mean, 5.2 ± 0.7 μg/L) and 14.0% (mean, 9.2 ± 1.3 μg/L), respectively. The mean recovery was 104%. This study reports plasma GAS6 reference intervals established first according to the guideline of CLSI C28-A3.

Keywords:

• Biochemical marker
• clinical and laboratory standards ınstitute
• enzyme-linked ımmunosorbent assay
• GAS6
• international federation of clinical chemistry
• reference ranges
• Vitamin K

Acknowledgements

We appreciate Brian Parker for reviewing this manuscript for its English content as a native speaker.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. There was no external funding.