Blood donor screening with cobas s 201/cobas TaqScreen MPX under routine conditions at German Red Cross institutes.

BACKGROUND: In 1997 the German Red Cross (GRC) blood donor services introduced mini-pool nucleic acid testing (NAT) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) to increase blood safety. With the new cobas s 201/cobas TaqScreen MPX, a fully automated extraction method and a multiplex amplification system specifically adapted to the needs of blood donation services is available. METHODS: The cobas s 201 system was evaluated at the GRC BTS locations Hagen, Springe and Frankfurt. In phase A, the analytical sensitivity for the detection of HBV, HCV and HIV-1 was investigated and in phase B, at least 60,000 samples at each test site were screened in parallel with the MPX test on s 201 system and the existing routine mini-pool NAT system to compare the diagnostic specificity and the diagnostic sensitivity. RESULTS: Comparable analytical sensitivities in a range of 1.6-3.6 IU/ml, 4.9-10.9 IU/ml and 14.7-26.6 IU/ml for HBV, HCV HIV, respectively, for the MPX test on s 201 system (95% probability based on probit analysis) were determined at all test sites. The diagnostic sensitivity was 99.8% and the diagnostic specificity was 99.85%. CONCLUSIONS: The MPX test on s 201 system is a fully automated NAT system suitable for routine blood donor screening. The analytical sensitivity as well as the diagnostic sensitivity fulfilled all requirements of the Paul Ehrlich Institute for blood donor screening in mini-pools up to 96 donations per pool. A major benefit of the automated NAT system is the reduced personnel time and the extensive complete barcode-controlled process documentation.

Blood transfusion: influence of transfusion therapy on outcome.

Few studies have addressed the influence of different transfusion therapies on outcome in a convincing way. Proven adverse impact of allogeneic blood on outcome is minimal. Acute mortality has declined to about 1 : 500,000 and the rate of transfusion-transmitted infections is decreasing, too. Data on postoperative infections and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as possible adverse effects are controversial. Evidence for an increased risk of tumour recurrences is lacking. Alternatives to allogeneic blood may have appreciable risks: perioperative blood recovery had a fatality rate of more than 1 : 40,000. Reduction of allogeneic blood exposure may not be equated with improved outcome.

[D-category VII depends on amino acid substitution Leu(110)Pro]. / D-Kategorie VII beruht einheitlich auf der Aminosäuresubstitution Leu(110)Pro.

A point mutation has been postulated as cause of the phenotype D category VII, based on data of 3 probands only. Repeatedly, D protein variants have been found to be due to heterogenous molecular events. Therefore, the aforementioned cause was to be tested with more probands. In a systematic study, 68 nonrelated probands with D category VII were found. 33 were selected by chance, and the nucleic acid region 280-329 was sequenced after PCR amplification. All examined probands showed the postulated Leu(110)Pro substitution. No further polymorphisms were detected. Our data show that in Southern Germany D category VII is homogenously due to the amino acid substitution Leu(110)Pro. This allows the exploitation of this polymorphism for the prenatal detection of D category VII and the related Tar antigen.