Relationship between cyclosporine concentrations obtained using the Roche Cobas Integra and Abbott TDx monoclonal immunoassays in pre-dose and two hour post-dose blood samples from kidney transplant recipients.

Current evidence suggests that cyclosporine (CsA) concentration in blood samples taken 2 hours after Neoral microemulsion (Novartis Pharmaceuticals; East Hanover, NJ) administration (C2) predicts clinical events in transplant patients better than the pre-dose (trough) concentration (C0). Similarly, previous findings have shown that the metabolites/CsA ratio is substantially lower in C2 than in C0 samples; however the between-monoclonal immunoassay differences for C2 samples have received little attention in the literature. In 56 C samples and 60 C samples from renal transplant patients, CsA levels were determined using the monoclonal fluorescence polarization immunoassay (mFPIA) from Abbott (Abbott Park, IL) and the homogeneous enzyme immunoassay technique (HEIT) from Roche Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland). In both cases a high correlation coefficient between the results was obtained (r > or = 0.971), with a linear regression for C0 samples: mFPIA = 1.47 HEIT + 22.0 and for C2 samples: mFPIA = 1.11 HEIT + 71.96. The difference between the linear regression slopes was statistically significant (P < 0.001), and the mFPIA/HEIT ratio was significantly higher for C than for C samples (P < 0.001).