In the beginning of 2020, the World Health Organization announced a pandemic of COVID 19. They called on states to take on measures to prevent the spread of SARS CoV 2 virus. A rapid and effective diagnostic was a key for having a virus spread under control, so many new tests became available on the market. The RT PCR method was chosen as a golden standard for diagnosis of COVID 19. It gives the most reliable results, because it is based on detection of nucleic acid of the virus. This method also has a few cons, such as performance time, price of the test and a need for educated personnel. That has led to the development of rapid antigen tests that can detect the SARS CoV 2 virus in only fifteen minutes, are easy to use and can be performed by anyone. However, antigen detection is not sufficient for a pandemic monitoring. Serological tests are also of a big importance.
The purpose of the master’s thesis was a verification of a new serological method for quantification of antibodies against SARS CoV 2 at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry University Medical Centre Ljubljana. We used 65 anonymous samples, collected form adults – 36 of them were RT-PCR positive and 27 RT PCR were negative. The method chosen for the implementation in clinical practice was Elecsys® Anti SARS CoV 2 S, manufactured by Roche Diagnostics, which allowed us to measure a total concentration of antibodies against S protein of SARS CoV 2. For the verification, we calculated precision and accuracy of this method, and both of them met the laboratory requirements. The next step was to calculate the diagnostic specificity that was 96.30% (95% CI: 81.03–99.91%) and sensitivity that was 97.22% (95% CI: 85.47–99.93%). This method was then compared to COVID 19 S1 RBD protein Human IgM ELISA Kit and COVID 19 S1 RBD protein Human IgG ELISA Kit, manufactured by Ray Bio that were developed for research use only. Diagnostic specificity of both methods was 100% (95% CI: 87.23–100%). Diagnostic sensitivity for COVID 19 S1 RBD protein Human IgM ELISA Kit was only 8.33% (95% CI: 1.75–22.47%), and 33.33% (95% CI: 18.56–50.97%) for COVID 19 S1 RBD protein Human IgG ELISA Kit. The last step was to compare all three methods with the Cohen’s coefficient Kappa, which showed only slight agreement between verified methods. In conclusion, the Elecsys® Anti SARS CoV 2 S method is the optimal choice for quantification of antibodies against SARS CoV 2 in clinical practice, while products manufactured by Ray Bio are not reliable enough for clinical use.
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