Evaluation of an automated assay based on monoclonal anti-human serum amyloid A (SAA) antibodies for measurement of canine, feline, and equine SAA.

Major acute phase proteins (APPs) have proven diagnostically useful in dogs, cats and horses with routine use facilitated by commercially available automated heterologous assays. An automated assay applicable across all three species would highly facilitate further dissemination of routine use, and the aim of this study was to validate an automated latex agglutination turbidimetric immunoassay based on monoclonal anti-human serum amyloid A (SAA) antibodies for measurement of canine, feline and equine SAA. Serum samples from 60 dogs, 40 cats and 40 horses were included. Intra- and inter-assay imprecision, linearity and detection limit (DL) were determined to assess analytical performance. To assess clinical performance, equine and feline SAA measurements were compared with parallel measurements using a previously validated automated SAA assay in a method comparison setting, and by assessing overlap performance of canine SAA in healthy dogs and diseased dogs with and without systemic inflammation. Intra- and inter-assay CVs ranged between 1.9-4.6% and between 3.0-14.5%, respectively. Acceptable linearity within a clinically relevant range of SAA concentrations was observed for all three species. The DL was 1.06 mg/L. Method comparison revealed acceptable agreement of the two assays measuring feline and equine SAA, and the overlap performance of canine SAA was acceptable. The tested assay measured SAA in canine, feline and equine serum with analytical and overlap performance acceptable for clinical purposes so improving practical aspects of clinical APP application. The monoclonal nature of the antibodies suggests strong, long-term inter-batch performance stability.