COMPARISON OF 4 ENZYME IMMUNOASSAYS FOR DETECTION OF HUMAN T-CELL LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-2 ANTIBODIES

Four licensed enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits for the measurement of ant ibody to human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type 1, one from Organ on Teknika Corp. (OTC), one from Cambridge Biotech Corp, (CBC), and tw o from Abbott Laboratories (the 1993 modification [Abb 93] and the 2.0 version licensed in 1995 [Abb 95]), were evaluated for sensitivity an d specificity in the detection of HTLV type 2 antibody, and the result s were compared with those previously obtained with earlier kit versio ns, The CBC, Abb 95, Abb 93, and OTC kits had sensitivities of 99.7, 9 7.6, 96.8, and 96.2%, respectively, compared with sensitivities of 89. 1 and 60% for the Abbott and CBC (previously DuPont) kits, respectivel y, licensed in 1988. Thus, the abilities of commercial kits to detect HTLV antibody have improved, The relative specificities of the CBC, Ab b 95, Abb 93, and OTC kits with negative blood donor specimens that ha d been reactive with the 1988 CBC ELA kit were 92.9, 64.5, 78.8, and 6 2.6%, respectively, Compared with those of the 1988 versions, the spec ificity of the Abbott EIA has decreased and the specificity of the CBC kit has been significantly improved.