Adaptation of Elecsys® anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 immunoassay to dried blood spots: proof of concept

Abstract

Aim: Several automated immunoassays have been validated on serum/plasma to evaluate the presence of significant levels of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (anti-SARS-CoV-2) antibodies, signs of a present or past infection, but the use of dried blood spots (DBS) would facilitate sampling, shipping and storage. Objective: The aim of this project was to give proof of concept of the possibility to use of the automatized Elecsys® anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay with a volumetric DBS device. Results: Linearity and correlation were satisfactory between volumetric DBS and plasma. A cut-off value was suggested and should be validated with more samples. Conclusion: this study strongly support the possibility to work with volumetric DBS instead of serum/plasma to test for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.