[Problems in standardization of the immunochemical detection of plasma proteins. I. International reference standards for plasma proteins. II. Immunochemical relation of measurement signals and values].

When the results of plasmaprotein determination--dependent on the reagents, methods and other factors--are expressed in international units (IU) a better comparison of the results between different labs is possible. By this means and using the corresponding reference values and reference intervals the reliability of the interpretation of laboratory data will increase. The situation regarding the WHO IRP's for plasma proteins (approx. 20 parameters) and the relation from IU to mg in the reagents of the Behringwerke AG are reported. The overlability of WHO IRP's has not allowed yet to achieve an optimal standardization of the immunochemical methods for measurement of plasma proteins. This depends especially on the complexity of the antigen-antibody reaction. The relationship between the measured signal and the hence obtained value will be discussed in details in the second part of this paper. Hereby especially the reciprocal interdependence between physicochemical properties of proteins and the deriving immunochemical behaviour as well as the dependence of the results from the quality of the antibodies-containing reagents are also considered. Possible solutions for a better control system of the plasma protein determination by using the so called master calibrators as internal support for validation will be presented. Furthermore, general immunochemical postulates and rules for optimization of the standardization of plasma protein determination will be proposed and discussed.