NEWBORN SCREENING FOR CYSTIC-FIBROSIS IN WISCONSIN - COMPARISON OF BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR METHODS

Objectives. To evaluate neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis (CF), i ncluding study of the screening procedures and characteristics of fals e-positive infants, over the past 10 years in Wisconsin. An important objective evolving from the original design has been to compare use of a single-tier immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) screening method with that of a two-tier method using IRT and analyses of samples for the mo st common cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) (Delta F508) mutation. We also examined the benefit of including up to 10 additiona l CFTR mutations in the screening protocol. Methods. From 1985 to 1994 , using either the IRT or IRT/DNA protocol, 220 862 and 104 308 neonat es, respectively, were screened for CF. For the IRT protocol, neonates with an IRT greater than or equal to 180 ng/mL were considered positi ve, and the standard sweat chloride test was administered to determine CF status. For the IRT/DNA protocol, samples from the original dried- blood specimen on the Guthrie card of neonates with an IRT greater tha n or equal to 110 ng/mL were tested for the presence of the Delta F508 CFTR allele, and if the DNA test revealed one or two Delta F508 allel es, a sweat test was obtained. Results. Both screening procedures had very high specificity. The sensitivity tended to be higher with the IR T/DNA protocol, but the differences were not statistically significant . The positive predictive value of the IRT/DNA screening protocol was 15.2% compared with 6.4% if the same samples had been screened by the IRT method. Assessment of the false-positive IRT/DNA population reveal ed that the two-tier method eliminates the disproportionate number of infants with low Apgar scores and also the high prevalence of African- Americans identified previously in our study of newborns with high IRT levels. We found that 55% of DNA-positive CF infants were homozygous for Delta F508 and 40% had one Delta F508 allele. Adding analyses for 10 more CFTR mutations has only a small effect on the sensitivity but is likely to add significantly to the cost of screening. Conclusions. Advantages of the IRT/DNA protocol over IRT analysis include improved positive predictive value, reduction of false-positive infants, and mo re rapid diagnosis with elimination of recall specimens.