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. 2022 Nov 4;61(2):332-338.
doi: 10.1515/cclm-2022-0875. Print 2023 Jan 27.

Preanalytical stability of SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies

Tobias Niedrist  1 , Lisa Kriegl  2 , Christoph J Zurl  3 , Felix Schmidt  4 , Nicole Perkmann-Nagele  4 , Patrick Mucher  4 , Manuela Repl  4 , Ines Flieder  4 , Astrid Radakovics  4 , Daniela Sieghart  5 , Helga Radner  5 , Daniel Aletaha  5 , Christoph J Binder  4 , Christian Gülly  6 , Robert Krause  2 , Markus Herrmann  1 , Oswald F Wagner  4 , Thomas Perkmann  4 , Helmuth Haslacher  4
Affiliations

Preanalytical stability of SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies

Tobias Niedrist et al. Clin Chem Lab Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: Anti-nucleocapsid (NC) antibodies are produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, they are well suited for the detection of a previous infection. Especially in the case of seroprevalence studies or during the evaluation of a novel in-vitro diagnostic test, samples have been stored at <-70 °C (short- and long-term) or 2-10 °C (short-term) before analysis. This study aimed to assess the impact of different storage conditions relevant to routine biobanking on anti-NC antibodies.

Methods: The preanalytical impact of short-term storage (84 [58-98] days) on <-70 °C and for 14 days at 2-10 °C was evaluated using samples from 111 donors of the MedUni Vienna Biobank. Long-term effects (443 [409-468] days) were assessed using 208 samples from Biobank Graz and 49 samples from Biobank Vienna. Anti-Nucleocapsid antibodies were measured employing electrochemiluminescence assays (Roche Anti-SARS-CoV-2).

Results: After short-term storage, the observed changes did not exceed the extent that could be explained by analytical variability. In contrast, results after long-term storage were approximately 20% higher and seemed to increase with storage duration. This effect was independent of the biobank from which the samples were obtained. Accordingly, the sensitivity increased from 92.6 to 95.3% (p=0.008). However, comparisons with data from Anti-Spike protein assays, where these deviations were not apparent, suggest that this deviation could also be explained by the analytical variability of the qualitative Anti-NC assay.

Conclusions: Results from anti-NC antibodies are stable during short-term storage at <-70 °C and 2-10 °C. After long-term storage, a slight increase in sensitivity could not be ruled out.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 antibodies; preanalytical phase; serology; stability; storage.

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