Beta-2-microglobulin--a rapid and automated determination for a broad range of clinical applications

The clinical evaluation of the Cobas Core beta 2-Microglobulin EIA was performed on the random access analyzer Cobas Core. The coefficients of variations for the intra-assay and inter-assay precisions ranged between 3% and 6%. In comparison to healthy persons (0.7-2.7 mg/l), significantly elevated serum levels of beta 2-m were found in patients with lymphoproliferative disorders like monoclonal gammopathies of the IgG (1.98-78 mg/l; p = 0.0001), IgA (1.3-7.1 mg/l; p = 0.0002) and of the IgM (2.1-8.7 mg/l; p = 0.0001) type, in malignant lymphoma (1.5-33.5 mg/l; p = 0.0001) and in chronic lymphatic leukemia (1.5-22.4 mg/l; p = 0.0001). In cases of HIV-infection, increasing levels of beta 2-m exhibited an inverse correlation to the CD4+ T-lymphocyte count (p = 0.0001) and indicated disease progression. In patients having renal transplantation a rejection of the graft was accompanied by a rise of the beta 2-m serum level. In summary, the data clearly indicate the reliability of the measuring system as well as the clinical relevance of beta-2-M determinations for such patient groups.