INTERASSAY CALIBRATION AS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMPARABILITY OF RESULTS IN CLINICAL ENZYMOLOGY

Objective: Factors contributing to the applicability of interassay cal ibration of methods measuring enzyme catalytic activities are describe d. Also discussed are the properties essential for such a material. Si milarity of specificity for the methods to be calibrated as well as co mmutability between the material(s) intended to be used as calibrator are the main criteria to be satisfied. Result: Several examples demons trated that interassay calibration is feasible but a multi-enzyme cali brator with a wide commutability for the most popular methods remains to be developed. This is the project of the IFCC Working Group on Cali brators in Clinical Enzymology (WG-CCE). Several experimental data are also presented that indicate that the temperature at which the reacti on is carried out is not a limiting factor in the implementation of in terassay calibration in clinical enzymology. Copyright (C) 1998 The Ca nadian Society of Clinical Chemists.