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Methods for homocysteine analysis and biological relevance of the results
Véronique Ducros1, Karine Demuth, Marie-Pierre Sauvant
1Département de Biologie Intégrée, CHU Grenoble, BP 217, 38043 Grenoble, France. vducros@chu-grenoble.fr
Insights
Elevated total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is a cardiovascular disease risk factor, often due to genetic or vitamin B deficiencies. This review analyzes homocysteine testing methods, highlighting transferability issues impacting results.
Area of Science:
- Clinical Chemistry
- Cardiovascular Disease Research
- Biochemical Analysis
Background:
- Increased total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is a recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
- Hyperhomocysteinemia stems from genetic mutations or deficiencies in B vitamins (B2, B6, B9, B12), impairing enzyme function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and compare the characteristics, performance, and limitations of current analytical methods for determining tHcy.
- To aid researchers and clinicians in selecting an appropriate homocysteine assay.
Main Methods:
- Review of High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection.
- Evaluation of immunoassays as increasingly popular alternatives to in-house laboratory methods.
Main Results:
- HPLC with fluorescence detection is widely used, while immunoassays offer ease of use and are gaining traction.
- A significant drawback across methods is the lack of clearly established transferability between different assays and laboratories.
Conclusions:
- Method selection for tHcy determination requires careful consideration of performance, ease of use, and especially method transferability.
- Inter-method and inter-laboratory variations pose challenges for consistent interpretation of tHcy results, necessitating standardization efforts.
Abstract:
It is now widely accepted that increased total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Hyperhomocysteinemia can be caused by impaired enzyme function as a result of genetic mutation or vitamin B (B(2), B(6), B(9), B(12)) deficiency. A lot of methods are now available for tHcy determination. High-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection are at present the most widely used methods but immunoassays, easier to use, begin to supplant in-house laboratory methods. In order to help with the choice of a main relevant homocysteine analytical method, the characteristics, performances and limits of the main current methods are reviewed. One major drawback among all these available methods is the transferability which is not clearly established to date. The impact of both inter-method and inter-laboratory variations on the interpretation of the tHcy results are discussed.