Rodríguez-Mateos Mariano, Jaso Javier, Martínez de Aguirre Paula, Carlos Silvia, Fernández-Ciriza Leire, Holguín África, Reina Gabriel
Microbiology Department, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain.
ISTUN, Institute of Tropical Health, Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Jan 18;13(3):349. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13030349.
Dried blood spots (DBSs) are an economical and convenient alternative to serum/plasma, which allow for the serological and molecular study of different pathogens. Sixty-four blood samples were collected by venipuncture and spotted onto Whatman™ 903 cards to evaluate the utility of DBSs and the effect of the storage temperature for 120 days after sample collection to carry out serological diagnosis. Mumps, measles and rubella IgG were investigated from DBSs and plasma using an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay. Using a calculated optimal cut-off value, the serological evaluation of mumps, measles and rubella using DBSs achieved high sensitivity (100%, 100% and 82.5%, respectively) and specificity (100%, 87.5% and 100%, respectively). The correlation observed between the plasma and the DBSs processed after sample collection was high (0.914-0.953) for all antibodies studied, both considering hematocrit before sample elution or not. For the different storage conditions, the correlation with plasma was high at 4 °C (0.889-0.925) and at -20 °C (0.878-0.951) but lower at room temperature (0.762-0.872). Measles IgG results were more affected than other markers when DBSs were stored at any temperature for 120 days. To summarize, hematocrit does not affect the processing of DBSs in the study of serological markers of mumps, measles and rubella. DBS stability for serological diagnosis of mumps and rubella is adequate when samples are stored at -20 °C or 4 °C, but not at room temperature, for a period of 4 months.
干血斑（DBS）是血清/血浆经济便捷的替代物，可用于不同病原体的血清学和分子研究。通过静脉穿刺采集64份血样并点样于沃特曼™903滤纸上，以评估DBS的实用性以及样本采集后120天内不同储存温度对进行血清学诊断的影响。使用自动化化学发光免疫分析法检测DBS和血浆中的腮腺炎、麻疹和风疹IgG。采用计算得出的最佳临界值，用DBS进行腮腺炎、麻疹和风疹的血清学评估具有高灵敏度（分别为100%、100%和82.5%）和高特异性（分别为100%、87.5%和100%）。对于所有研究的抗体，无论是否考虑样本洗脱前的血细胞比容，样本采集后处理的血浆与DBS之间的相关性都很高（0.914 - 0.953）。对于不同的储存条件，与血浆的相关性在4℃（0.889 - 0.925）和-20℃（0.878 - 0.951）时较高，但在室温下较低（0.762 - 0.872）。当DBS在任何温度下储存120天时，麻疹IgG结果比其他标志物受影响更大。总之，在腮腺炎、麻疹和风疹血清学标志物研究中，血细胞比容不影响DBS的处理。当样本在-20℃或4℃而非室温下储存4个月时，DBS用于腮腺炎和风疹血清学诊断的稳定性良好。
