Monoclonal and polyclonal immunoglobulin interference in a conjugated bilirubin assay

Monoclonal proteins can interfere with the conjugated bilirubin assay on the Beckman Coulter AU5400 and AU2700 instruments and produce spurious results. Protein depletion eliminates the interference, suggesting that monoclonal proteins cause the problem.

To determine the interference rate with the Beckman Coulter AU5400 and AU2700 conjugated bilirubin assay and to identify the interfering substance.

Beckman Coulter bilirubin results from 33,720 samples analyzed during 6 months were evaluated for interference. On a subset of samples, protein G columns were used to specifically remove immunoglobulin G (IgG) to determine the cause of the interference. Another 117 samples containing a (known) monoclonal protein were selected to determine the interference rate.

From 26 different patients, 103 samples had conjugated bilirubin results greater than the total bilirubin for a false-positive rate of 0.3%. Removal of IgG from a subset of those samples with IgG monoclonal protein and increased polyclonal IgG eliminated the conjugated bilirubin interference. In separate, selected samples containing monoclonal proteins, the false-positive interference rate was 7.7% (9 of 117) and was greatest when the monoclonal protein concentration was greater than 4 g/dL. Another 11 of the 117 samples (9.4%) with monoclonal proteins exhibited assay interference by producing false-negative results. The overall interference rate, therefore, was 17.1%.

The false-positive interference rate for the Beckman Coulter conjugated bilirubin assay was 0.3% for routinely analyzed serum/plasma samples. In addition to monoclonal proteins, we found that polyclonal immunoglobulins can also interfere with the conjugated bilirubin assay. The overall interference rate was 17.1% for samples with a monoclonal protein.