Virology
Comparison of 2 fully automated tests detecting antibodies against nucleocapsid N and spike S1/S2 proteins in COVID-19

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115197Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Elecsys® and LIAISON® SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests performed reliably.

  • SARS-CoV-2 antibodies should be confirmed with different antigens to increase accuracy.

  • In some patients, the COVID-19 serology may remain completely negative.

Abstract

Automated assays for detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnostics have recently come available. We compared the performance of the Elecsys® Anti–SARS-CoV-2 and LIAISON® SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG tests. The seroconversion panel comprised of 120 samples from 13 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. For the sensitivity and specificity testing, samples from COVID-19 outpatients >15 days after positive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) result (n = 35) and serum control samples collected before the COVID-19 era (n = 161) were included in the material. Samples for the detection of possible cross-reactions were also tested. Based on our results, the SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can be quite reliably detected 2 weeks after NAAT positivity and 3 weeks after the symptom onset with both tests. However, since some COVID-19 patients were positive only with Elecsys®, the antibodies should be screened against N-antigen (Elecsys®) and reactive samples confirmed with S antigen (LIAISON®), but both results should be reported. In some COVID-19 patients, the serology can remain negative.

Keywords

Antibody
COVID-19
Elecsys
LIAISON
SARS-CoV-2
Serology

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