COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS FOR 17-ALPHA-HYDROXYPROGESTERONE

We compared the performance of three 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone kits : the double antibody method, the coated tube method (ACTIVE(TM)), bot h from Diagnostic Systems Laboratories, Inc. (DSL) and the coated tube method (COAT-A-COUNT(R)) from Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC), The assay performance of the two DSL kits was very similar in terms of sensitivity, intra- and inter-assay precision, linearity of dilution, recovery, and specificity. We also analyzed 190 samples for 17 alpha- hydroxyprogesterone values using the above three kits. Twenty-three su bjects were from prepubertal population (ages 1 month-13 years), thirt y subjects were normal adult males (ages 20-53 years) and the remainin g subjects were females in different phase of menstrual cycle (n = 40) , on oral contraceptives (n = 20), post-menopausal (n = 17), or pregna nt women in their first, second, or third trimester (n = 60). In addit ion to these 60 pregnancy samples, we analyzed serial samples from 3 p regnancies, 17 alpha-OHP levels paralleled the progesterone levels in all three kits,Although there was reasonable correlation between the D PC and the two DSL kits, the 17 alpha-OHP values were found to be sign ificantly higher with DPC kit during the 2nd and 3rd trimester of preg nancy indicating probable interference in the DPC assay by some struct urally related steroids present during pregnancy. The DSL assays may b e particularly well suited for measuring 17 alpha-OHP levels during pr egnancy. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.