Effective Tuesday, February 5, 2013, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics core clinical chemistry laboratory will begin running the BioRad Bioplex assays for measuring auto-antibodies against glomerular basement membrane (GBM), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and proteinase 3 (PR3).  These individually orderable assays replace the existing tests performed on batch basis in the Immunopathology laboratory.

Test availability is 24 hours/day, 7 days a week (including holidays), with turn-around time of 2 hours or less upon receipt in the laboratory.  Other details on the tests are as follows:

Test name	Epic #	Specimen*	Reference range (units are antibody index, AI)
Glomerular Basement Membrane Antibodies, IgG	LAB1255	Red top tube	Neg: < 0.4 Equivocal: 0.4-0.9 Positive: 1.0 or greater
Myeloperoxidase Antibodies, IgG	LAB1326	Red top tube	Neg: < 0.4 Equivocal: 0.4-0.9 Positive: 1.0 or greater
Proteinase 3 Antibodies, IgG	LAB1344	Red top tube	Neg: < 0.4 Equivocal: 0.4-0.9 Positive: 1.0 or greater

* 3 mL whole blood or two pediatric microtainers
These changes do not impact ANCA screens performed by immunofluorescence (e.g., ANCA REFLEXIVE, LAB5760).  Reflex ordering of MPO and PR3 antibodies from positive ANCA screens with certain patterns will continue to occur.

Questions should be directed to Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD, medical director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory (384-9380, matthew-krasowski@uiowa.edu).