Evaluation of Serological Assays for SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Testing from Dried Blood Spots Collected from Cohorts with Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Overview

Journal J Clin Virol Plus

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2022 Jun 29

PMID 35765384

Authors

Beth Catlett

Mitchell Starr

Dorothy A Machalek

Thidarat Danwilai

Michael Palmer

Andrew Kelly

John Kaldor

Gregory J Dore

David Darley

Gail Matthews

Philip H Cunningham

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Dried blood spot (DBS) specimens are a useful serosurveillance tool particularly in hard-to-reach populations but their application for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection is poorly characterised.

Objectives: To compare detection of naturally acquired SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in paired DBS and serum specimens using commercially available serological immunoassays.

Study Design: Specimens were collected through St Vincent's Hospital observational post COVID-19 cohort study (ADAPT). Laboratory spotted DBS from venepuncture were initially tested on seven assays, a DBS validation completed on three with clinically collected fingerstick DBSs tested on one.

Results: Sensitivity for Euroimmun nucleocapsid (NCP) IgG ELISA from laboratory spotted DBS (n=145), Euroimmun spike, IgG ELISA from laboratory spotted DBS (n=161), and Binding Site total antibody ELISA from clinically collected fingerstick DBS (n=391) was 100% (95% CI: 95.8-100%), 100% (95% CI: 95.8-100%) and 92.9% (95% CI: 89.5-95.5%), respectively. Specificity was 66.2% (95% CI: 53.6-77.0%), 96% (95% CI: 88.7-99.1%) and 98.8% (95% CI: 93.3-99.9%), respectively. All three assays' results displayed a strong positive correlation between DBS compared to paired serum.

Conclusions: The Binding Site™ spike total antibody and Euroimmun™ spike IgG ELISAs provided good analytical performance, demonstrating that DBS specimens could facilitate specimen collection in the epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is highly applicable in populations and settings where venepuncture is problematic (including community based regional/remote settings, nursing homes, prisons, and schools).

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