Comparison of two homogeneous assays with a precipitation method and an ultracentrifugation method for the measurement of HDL-cholesterol.

We report on the performance of four HDL-cholesterol assays: a homogeneous method based on polyethylene glycol-modified enzymes/alpha-cyclodextrin sulfate (PEGME; Kyowa); a homogeneous method based on polyanion-polymer/detergent (PPD; Daiichi); the usual precipitation method with phosphotungstic acid/MgCl2 (PTA); and an ultracentrifugation (UC) procedure. The homogeneous HDL-cholesterol assays (performed with automated analyzers) were precise and correlated well with the PTA and UC assays. The specificity and accuracy of the PEGME method were better than those of the PPD method.