Laboratory Testing Innovation and Collaborative Research Efforts
L-R Kerri Gallo, Dr. Susan Huang, Kelly Ruiz, Dr. Vipin Bhayana, Dr. William Clark, Yvonne Chambers and Dr. Angela Rutledge.
The Specialty Biochemistry Laboratories within Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at London Heath Sciences Centre has been working in collaboration with Dr. William Clark and Thermo Fisher Scientific on the Water Intake Trial. This is a randomized control trial involving over 630 patients to assess the ability of water intervention to slow chronic progressive kidney disease.
Thermo Fisher Scientific provided a Kryptor Compact Plus (for Research Use Only) immunoassay analyzer to measure the analyte copeptin as a surrogate marker of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) levels. A medical laboratory technologist, Kelly Ruiz, was trained on-site to operate this instrument and a complete assay validation was conducted in accordance with Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare requirements and overseen by Dr. Angela Rutledge. A total of 1282 measurements were performed and a biostatistician is currently analyzing the data.
Currently, ADH is measured in the Specialty Biochemistry Laboratories by a very labour-intensive radioimmunoassay requiring at least 1.5 mL of plasma and taking 3 days to complete. On the Kryptor Compact Plus copeptin measurement is more precise and takes 14 minutes and as little as 150 µL of serum or plasma. Copeptin is much more stable ex vivo than ADH and copeptin levels correlate significantly with ADH concentrations and osmolality. Laboratory personnel are waiting for the copeptin assay to have Health Canada approval for in vitro diagnostic use before they are able to offer the test to clinicians as a patient care improvement initiative.
