A prototype PETIA for measuring serum and plasma calprotectin has been developed through Tom Nilsen’s (Gentian’s Director Product Development) PhD project:
“Avian antibodies applied in particle enhanced turbidimetric immunoassay (PETIA). Development of serum/plasma calprotectin immunoassay and its clinical performance as a marker for bacterial infections”.
The PETIA works with all main fully automated clinical chemistry analysers in the market. Importantly, the prototype assay for plasma has later been formally developed and launched by Gentian.
Particle-Enhanced Turbidimetric Immunoassays (PETIAs) can be set up on the main clinical chemistry analysers. Because most clinical chemistry analysers are random access instruments, samples can be measured successively as they arrive to the laboratory. As a result, it will only take approximately 10 minutes from initiation of the measurement until the results are ready. This significantly reduces the turnaround time compared with the traditional Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) (the microtiter plate type).
Several ELISAs for measuring calprotectin in serum/plasma has been available in the market, but from our knowledge no PETIAs. Gentian has therefore seen the need for a more rapid and accessible way to measure calprotectin levels in plasma.
Phd Tom Nilsen has cooperated with Uppsala University for his PhD project, where he also defended his thesis on 06.12.2018. The project has been funded by the Research Council of Norway, through the industrial PhD program, and Gentian AS.
In relation to test the prototype’s technical and clinical performance, the project has correspondingly evaluated calprotectin as a marker for systemic inflammation caused by bacterial infections (for example sepsis).
In theory, as a neutrophil activation marker, calprotectin distinguishes more precisely between bacterial and viral infections compared to conventional methods, such as CRP and PCT.
Nilsen’s PhD thesis demonstrates that use of calprotectin concentrations to detect bacterial infections in critically ill patients, at the day of antibiotic therapy initiation, is better than conventional methods like C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and white blood cell count (WBC). Furthermore, calprotectin is even more superior in detecting bacterial infections the day before initiation of antibiotic therapy. An assay that, at an early stage, differ between a bacterial and viral infections, can help reduce the use of antibiotics in treatment of infections.
You can read Nilsen PhD thesis on DIVA (Uppsala University)