Enhancing the efficiency of Epstein-Barr viral serologic test in the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
- Author:
Changqing ZHANG
1
;
Yongsheng ZONG
;
Baozhen HUANG
;
Yun SUN
;
Yongzhao YE
;
Kaitao FENG
;
Jinglue LI
;
Feng ZHANG
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Adult; Antibodies, Viral; blood; Antigens, Viral; immunology; Capsid Proteins; immunology; Diagnostic Errors; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections; blood; diagnosis; immunology; virology; Herpesvirus 4, Human; immunology; isolation & purification; Humans; Immunoglobulin A; blood; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms; blood; immunology; virology; Sensitivity and Specificity; Serologic Tests
- From: Chinese Journal of Oncology 2002;24(4):356-359
- CountryChina
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficiency of concurrent application of VCA-IgA, EA-IgA and EA-IgG serological tests in diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
METHODSThe sera of 266 untreated NPC patients and 347 healthy adults were collected. In addition to the conventional immunoenzymatic method of VCA-IgA test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was adopted as an alternative to test the antibody level of EA-IgG and EA-IgA. A new statistical formula was used to evaluate the odds ratio of different combinations of these three tests.
RESULTSThe sensitivity and specificity of VCA-IgA, EA-IgG and EA-IgA concurrently were as high as 95.11% and 97.41%, respectively, which were higher than those of single test (90.60% and 94.52% for VCA-IgA, 93.98% and 93.66% for EA-IgG, 89.84% and 88.18% for EA-IgA). Furthermore, the odds ratio of 3-test positivity (1 912.5) was higher than those of 2-test positivity (27.903 2 for VCA-IgA and EA-IgG, 11.169 0 for EA-IgG and EA-IgA, 8.032 8 for VCA-IgA and EA-IgA), which were even higher than those of 1-test positivity (0.121 4 for VCA-IgA, 0.170 5 for EA-IgG and 0.048 8 for EA-IgA).
CONCLUSIONELISA is more accurate in reflecting the antibody level of EA-IgG and EA-IgA than the conventional immunoenzymatic method. The concurrent application of VCA-IgA, EA-IgG and EA-IgA test can markedly improve the sensitivity, specificity and odds ratio as well, thus resulting in enhancing the efficiency of diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma serologically.
