The imprecision profile in immunoassay. A study using a resampling technique.

A resampling ('bootstrap') technique was applied to assess the reliability of the calculated imprecision profile (IP), as obtained from the dose/response curve and the response/error relationship (RER) using the cumulative data relative to two assays, i.e. a T4 radioimmunoassay (RIA) and a TSH immunofluorometric assay (IFMA), both run in duplicate. Mean values and the related uncertainty of the estimated dose errors were compared for different RER fitting conditions and different sizes of the duplicate response sets. The following observations were made: (a) compared to the maximum-likelihood procedure, the least-square fit proved to be unsuitable for estimating the parameters in the general RER equation variance(R) = aRb (where R indicates the response), (b) the simplifying assumption of a within-method constancy of the exponent in the RER equation, while acceptable for the T4 RIA, did not hold in the case of the TSH IFMA implying a much wider response range, (c) for both assays, response sets of ca. 100 duplicates were apparently compatible with an acceptable definition of the IP (+/- 10 to +/- 20% uncertainty).