Evaluation of multiplex immunoassays, used for determination of adiponectin, resistin, leptin, and ghrelin from human blood samples, in comparison to ELISA assays

Abstract

Background. Many different multiplex biomarker immunoassays based on Luminex^®-technology have been developed during recent years. We have evaluated the performance of two multiplex immunoassays for determination of adiponectin, resistin, ghrelin and leptin in comparison to corresponding, conventional ELISA assays. Methods. Human serum or plasma samples were analysed by commercially available multiplex and ELISA immunoassays manufactured by Millipore Corp. Results. The correlation between tested multiplex and ELISA immunoassays was good, r > 0.9 for all analytes. The agreement between the methods was acceptable but there were differences in analytical levels. Intra- and inter-assay variation was comparable between both assays. The coefficient of variation for all analytes, independent of method, was ≤15% and for most of them <10%. Conclusion. The performance of the tested multiplex assays was reasonable and they can be considered as valid options to the conventional ELISA assays. However, results obtained with the two different techniques are not necessarily interchangeable due to differences in the concentration levels.

Key Words::

• Adiponectin
• ELISA
• ghrelin
• leptin
• luminex
• method comparison
• multiplex immunoassay
• resistin

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Kati Peltonen for excellent technical assistance and Juhani Mäki for support with the data analysis.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.