A high-sensitivity thromboplastin reagent prepared from cultured human cells

High-sensitivity thromboplastin reagents suitable for use in the prothrombin time (PT) assay are typically prepared from human brain and placenta, tissues that are in limited supply and subject to viral contamination. Cloning and expression of recombinant human tissue factor (TF) has enabled production of a new generation of thromboplastin reagents whose performance and utility are under active investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of producing a sensitive human thromboplastin reagent from a non-recombinant source: cultured human cells. Several human cell lines with apparently high constitutive TF synthesis were identified, and a viable thromboplastin reagent (Humaplastin) was produced from a human lung cell line via a non-conventional process that did not require reconstitution or rehydration of TF in cell membranes. When calibrated against BCT/253, a human brain international reference thromboplastin, Humaplastin exhibited a mean normal prothrombin time of 12.6 +/- 0.7 s (mean +/- SD: n = 20) and an International Sensitivity Index of 1.09 +/- 0.019. The performance of this reagent was well correlated (r = 0.983) with Thromborel S, a commercially available human placental thromboplastin reagent. Orthogonal least squares regression of the log PT values from the placental thromboplastin reagent versus Humaplastin and two recombinant TF-based thromboplastin reagents suggested that the latter three reagents are somewhat more sensitive than the placental thromboplastin reagent, although such differences should not be expected to have a significant impact on clinical utility. It is concluded that cultured human lung cells represent a suitable source of tissue thromboplastin for production of a high-sensitivity non-recombinant thromboplastin reagent.