Bethesda Assay for Detecting Inhibitory Anti-ADAMTS13 Antibodies in Immune-Mediated Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura.
TH OPEN 2018;
2:e329-e333. [PMID:
31249957 PMCID:
PMC6524890 DOI:
10.1055/s-0038-1672187]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is confirmed by a severe deficiency (<10%) of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13 (ADAMTS13) activity. Autoantibodies to ADAMTS13 can be detected with a simplified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). An alternative methodology is a Bethesda assay, which has never been formally assessed in TTP. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory anti-ADAMTS13 antibody assay and determine if the Bethesda assay is advantageous compared with the ELISA, measuring total immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to ADAMTS 13. The Bethesda method determines the neutralizing activity of anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies in pooled normal plasma. We selected six immune-mediated TTP (iTTP) patients with ADAMTS13 activity levels <10% and strong ADAMTS13 inhibitors by 50:50 mixing studies and analyzed anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies using the Bethesda and ELISA assays. ADAMTS13 activity was stable at room temperature, while a time-dependent decrease in activity was detected in assay conditions of 37°C. Adding 5 mM Ca 2+ to citrated plasma prevented loss of ADAMTS13 activity with time. There was time dependence to the antibody-mediated inactivation, after 2-hour incubation. Two of the iTTP patients had no detectable ADAMTS13 antibodies by the Bethesda assay, but had high titer of anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies and low ADAMTS13 antigen levels. The Bethesda assay can only detect anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies that functionally inhibit ADAMTS13. The anti-ADAMTS13 IgG ELISA instead allows the rapid identification of total IgG autoantibodies, detecting both inhibitory and noninhibitory antibodies.
Collapse