Improved buprenorphine immunoassay performance after urine treatment with β-glucuronidase

Buprenorphine (BUP), a semi-synthetic opioid analgesic, is increasingly prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain and opioid dependence. Urine immunoassay screening methods are available for monitoring BUP compliance and misuse; however, these screens may have poor sensitivity or specificity. We evaluated whether the pretreatment of urine with β-glucuronidase (BG) improves the sensitivity and overall accuracy of three BUP enzyme immunoassays when compared with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). Urine samples sent to our laboratories for BUP testing (n = 114) were analyzed before and after BG pretreatment by cloned enzyme donor immunoassay (CEDIA), enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and homogenous EIA (HEIA) immunoassays using a common 5 ng/mL cutoff. Total BUP and norbuprenorphine (NBUP) concentrations were measured by LC-MS-MS as the reference method. Urine BG pretreatment improved EIA, HEIA and CEDIA sensitivities from 70, 82 and 94%, respectively, to 97% for each of the three methods, when compared with LC-MS-MS. While the specificity of the EIA and HEIA remained 100% after BG pretreatment, the specificity of the CEDIA decreased from 74 to 67%. Urine pretreatment with BG is recommended to improve sensitivity of the EIA and HEIA BUP screening methods.