A one-step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect anti-CMV antibodies; development and clinical validation

A simple one-step ELISA to detect anti-CMV antibodies was developed. The test was based on the inhibition principle, and used anti-CMV coated microtitre plates, CMV nuclear antigen and anti-CMV Fab'-HRP conjugate; total assay time was 1.5 h. The use of Fab'-HRP conjugates improved discrimination between positive and negative sera as compared with IgG-HRP conjugates. In an in-house clinical study, the one-step ELISA showed a 98.4% correlation with the latex agglutination test. The test could be demonstrated to be suitable for both serum and citrate- or EDTA-plasma specimens; heparin-plasma gave somewhat higher absorbance values. In an external clinical validation, the one-step ELISA showed a 99.5% correlation with the latex agglutination test, and was found to be highly suitable for screening of blood donor specimens in a blood bank setting.