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

摘要

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 (R) Anti-SARS-CoV-2 and LIAISON (R) 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 (R), the antibodies should be screened against Nantigen (Elecsys (R)) and reactive samples confirmed with S antigen (LIAISON (R)), but both results should be reported. In some COVID-19 patients, the serology can remain negative. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.