Cross-reactivity of 12 recombinant insulin preparations in the Beckman Unicel DxI 800 insulin assay

• Published in: Annals of clinical biochemistry Vol. 47; no. Pt 3; p. 264
• Main Authors: Glenn, Christine, Armston, Annie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.05.2010
• Subjects: Biological Assay - methods; Cross Reactions; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents - analysis; Immunoassay; Insulin - analogs & derivatives; Insulin - analysis
• ISSN: 1758-1001
• DOI: 10.1258/acb.2010.010002

Insulin analogues used in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes may result in hypoglycaemia; however, these preparations show variable cross-reactivity in many insulin assays. In order to investigate a suspected insulin overdose, it is therefore essential to characterize the cross-reactivity of these preparations in insulin assays. The cross-reactivity of 12 commercial insulin preparations was assessed on the Beckman DxI analyser, by comparison with the insulin calibration curve corresponding to the midpoint of the dose-response curve. This was achieved by manually plotting the relative light units generated by the analyser for each preparation. All 12 insulin preparations examined showed significant cross-reactivity with the Beckman DxI insulin assay, with 11 of the insulin preparations demonstrating cross-reactivity of 83% or greater. The lowest cross-reactivity was observed with detemir with a value of 47.6%. When investigating hypoglycaemia it is important to be aware of the cross-reactivity of the recombinant insulin analogues in insulin assays. This study has established the cross-reactivity of 12 preparations in the Beckman DxI insulin assay.