Quality control and technical outcome of ISO-DALT two-dimensional electrophoresis in a clinical laboratory setting

In this paper, we present initial quality-control evaluations for a prototype clinical laboratory, recommendations for clinical and technical data record-keeping, and laboratory protocols designed to minimize operator-dependent analytical error in a multi-user environment. These evaluations and recommendations are based on qualitative and semiquantitative two-dimensional electrophoresis studies of the College of American Pathologists' Reference Preparation for Serum Proteins (RPSP). We include the schematic map of RPSP and manually derived estimates of analytical precision for within-run and run-to-run performance with the standard 18 X 18 cm ISO-DALT system.