Chen VHE, Ong L, Teo WK, Siow CH, Goh HL, Tan C, Lim WS, Eu D, Cheong ISY, Chan SH, Loh KS, Tay JK. Clinical performance of a prefabricated immunofluorescence assay for nasopharyngeal cancer screening.
Head Neck 2024;
46:2223-2232. [PMID:
38817018 DOI:
10.1002/hed.27790]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) IgA serology for viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA) aids early detection of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC), resulting in improved survival. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of a prefabricated immunofluorescent assay (IFA) for NPC screening in high-risk individuals.
METHODS
Sera from 96 biopsy-proven patients with NPC diagnosed at the outpatient clinic and 96 healthy family members were tested for EBV-VCA IgA and EBV-EA IgA using the prefabricated IFA from EUROIMMUN (EI) and the traditional immunofluorescence method.
RESULTS
The AUC of EI EBV-VCA IgA and EBV-EA IgA was 0.907 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.894-0.965) and 0.898 (95% CI: 0.848-0.947), respectively. Combined testing with the prefabricated assay at a threshold of VCA ≥1:320 or EA ≥1:10 showed 92.7% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity. Overall, the traditional EBV-EA IgA assay demonstrated the best accuracy (sensitivity 91.7% and specificity 96.9%) at a threshold of ≥1:5.
CONCLUSION
While the traditional IFA method was more accurate, the prefabricated IFA test kit can be a useful tool for NPC screening in high-risk populations.
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