Comparative Analysis between Reagents for Hepatitis B Surface Antibody Titer Test

Purpose: It is important for liver transplant patients to maintain a certain level of hepatitis B antibodies to prevent recurrence of hepatitis B after liver transplant surgery. The liver transplant and hepatobiliary surgery department at our hospital uses hepatitis B surface antibody titer testing as an important indicator in monitoring liver transplant patients. Recently, our hospital switched to reagents from company B due to an unstable supply of reagents and consumables from company A. Therefore, we evaluated the differences and correlation between those two reagents. Materials and Methods: A reagent comparison experiment between Company A and Company B was conducted on 69 samples of the hepatitis B surface antibody test requested in April 2022. Company A's reagent is a two-step test using beads, and Company B's reagent is a one-step test using a tube. For comparative experiments, samples diluted 10 times with stock solution and physiological saline were used, and the correlation between these reagents was analyzed by dilution factor. Results: The correlation graph between the two reagents shows the gradual upward gradient, and the result of B's reagent tended to be 5 times lower than A's reagent. The correlation between the 10-fold dilution of B's reagent, which is multiplied by 5, and the 10-fold dilution of A's reagent was compared for a similar value of A's reagent. Consequently, that was y = 1.1426x – 145.44, R² = 0.9828, which means a good correlation with an increased gradient. Furthermore, the B took 90 minutes to react, though the A took more than 120 minutes to test. Conclusion: Overall, B's reagent showed a lower value approximately 5 times rather than A's reagent, and there is the most valuable correlation between the 10-fold dilution of A's reagent and the 10-fold dilution of B's reagent multiplied by 5. If the 5-fold corrected value is referred to when reporting results using B's reagent, antibody trend analysis will be possible, similar to the result of the previous reagent. Also, it leads to an improvement in the laboratory's work efficiency significantly by the shorter test time.