First experiences with an accelerated CMV antigenemia test: CMV Brite Turbo assay

Background: Cytomegalovirus disease is still a major problem in immunocompr omised patients, such as bone marrow or kidney transplantation patients. Th e detection of viral antigen in leukocytes (antigenemia) has proven to be a clinically relevant marker of CMV activity and has found widespread applic ation. Because most existing assays are rather time-consuming and laborious , an accelerated version (Brite Turbo) of an existing method (Brite) has be en developed. The major modification is in the direct lysis of erythrocytes instead of separation by sedimentation. Objective: In this study the Brite Turbo method has been compared with the conventional Brite method to detec t CMV antigen pp65 in peripheral blood leukocytes of 107 consecutive immuno compromised patients. Results. Both tests produced similar results. Discrep ancies were limited to the lowest positive range and sensitivity and specif icity were comparable for both tests. Conclusions: Two major advantages of the Brite Turbo method could be observed in comparison to the original meth od: assay-time was reduced by more than 50% and only 2 ml of blood was requ ired. An additional advantage was the higher number of positive nuclei in t he Brite Turbo method attributable to the increased number of granulocytes in the assay. Early detection of CMV infection or reactivation has become f aster and easier with this modified assay. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.