Reliability criteria for steroid radioimmunoassay.

The principle of radioimmunoassay has been applied to every hormonal steroid and many steroids without known biological activity. The validation of steroid radioimmunoassay requires the evaluation of reliability criteria. These criteria involve the degree of relative specificity of the assay, the sensitivity which dictates the volume of biological fluid required for accurate and precise measurement, and the precision and accuracy of the assay which should be evaluated in every batch of assays as quality control. The use of steroid radioimmunoassay in physiological and clinical studies requires prior validation of these assays by proper evaluation of the reliability criteria.