Seroconversion Panels Improve Diagnostic Testing/Drug Discovery Opportunities

Seroconversion panels for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) remain stable for a minimum of 25 years. This extended shelf life allows in vitro diagnostic (IVD) companies to benchmark improvements in assay development for HIV, HBV, and HCV.

Seroconversion panels are plasma specimens collected from a single donor during the development of viral infection and the subsequent immune response. Panels for HIV, HBV, and HCV that had been collected as early as 1981 and as recently as 1996 were evaluated by comparing the earliest test results available to test results generated from the same plasma in 2007. Antibodies to HIV, HCV, and hepatitis B-surface antigen (HBsAg) were tested. Results demonstrated that these viral markers show no deterioration over a period of greater than 20 years even when stored in suboptimal conditions.

SeraCare Life Sciences (Milford, MA, USA) presented the data demonstrating the stability of its Seroconversion panels at the 24th annual Clinical Virology Symposium in April 2008, in Daytona Beach, FL (USA).

SeraCare provides vital products and services to facilitate the discovery, development, and production of human and animal diagnostics, and therapeutics. The company's range of products includes diagnostic controls, plasma-derived reagents and molecular biomarkers, biobanking, and contract research services.


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