Effect of digoxin Fab antibodies on five digoxin immunoassays

Following digoxin Fab antibody (FAB) administration in digitalis-toxic patients, total serum digoxin concentrations (SDCS) become elevated, but do not correlate with pharmacologic activity. In an attempt to accurately measure free (pharmacologically active) SDC in the presence of FAB, we assessed the utility of five digoxin immunoassays: fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA), ultrafiltration with FPIA (ULTRA-FPIA), enzyme multiplied immunoassay (EMIT), radioimmunoassay (RIA), and American Dade's STRATUS (STRATUS). To normal human serum samples containing 2 and 4 ng/ml of digoxin, FAB was added in escalating quantities of 0-1.9 micrograms. In addition, 1.9 micrograms of FAB was added to two serum samples containing no digoxin. SDCS reported by FPIA for each 2 ng/ml samples, in order of ascending FAB doses, were 2.08, 1.94, 2.02, 1.99, 1.95, and 1.93 ng/ml, while the SDCS from the ULTRA-FPIA were 2.00, 1.76, 1.56, 1.36, 1.16, and 0.98 ng/ml. Results similar to the ULTRA-FPIA were obtained with the STRATUS, RIA, and EMIT, although the SDCS from the EMIT (p less than 0.05) samples exhibited greater fluctuation. The 4 ng/ml samples demonstrated similar patterns among the assays although no statistical differences were noticed between EMIT and ULTRA-FPIA. Samples containing FAB without digoxin only adversely affected the RIA, which reported mean SDCS from the two identically prepared samples of 5.8 and 7.8 ng/ml. Except for the FPIA, the SDC measured by the assays directly correlated with the amount of FAB in the sample, demonstrating the ability of these assays to measure free SDC.