A two-tube immunochemical method for determination of CK-MB isoenzyme in serum evaluated

A new commercial kit (Impres-MB; International Immunoassay Labs.) recently was introduced for measuring the MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB) based on the use of monoclonal antibodies. After antibodies to CK-MM isoenzyme are added to precipitate the CK-MM, antibodies to CK-M monomer are added to precipitate the M-subunit isoenzymes of CK. Subtracting the enzymatic activity of the second supernate from the residual activity in the first yields the activity of CK-MB. Results are not affected by CK-BB, mitochondrial CK, or adenylate kinase. However, the anti-CK-MM antibodies precipitated only about 98% of serum CK-MM and may have partly precipitated CK-MB isoenzyme (average analytical recovery of CK-MB, 86.6%). Comparison between Impres-MB (y) and electrophoresis (x) yielded the following linear-regression equation: y = 0.79x + 3 (r = 0.982, n = 97). Data for CK-MB temporal kinetics, obtained from patients with myocardial infarction, correlated significantly in both methods; however, peak activity values of CK-MB were significantly different, confirming that the difference between the new method and the electrophoretic method average 20%.