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Evaluation of a new automated electrochemiluminescent sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) immunoassay

Abstract Serum sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) regulates the cellular bioavailability of SHBG-bound steroid hormones. Since variations in SHBG levels may affect the concentration of free, i.e., biologically active testosterone in serum, SHBG levels are commonly measured as a supplement to total testosterone determination. The recently developed electrochemiluminescence Elecsys ® SHBG immunoassay was evaluated analytically on a Modular E170 (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany) immunoanalyzer. Major differences in SHBG concentrations have been described among the commercially available methods; we therefore compared the new method with an established SHBG immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) in 99 routine serum samples. To provide reference values to clinicians, SHBG concentration was measured by Elecsys ® in 304 serum samples from healthy volunteers and several relevant clinical subgroups. The within-run and total imprecision coefficients of variation were ≤2.9% and ≤3.3%, respectively. Functional sensitivity was at least 0.74nmol/L. Recoveries after dilution of high-concentration samples in low-titer human serum or in assay diluent were within the range of 85–110%. The Elecsys ® SHBG assay correlated well (r=0.98) with the SHBG immunoradiometric assay, but values were higher for the Elecsys ® assay (Passing Bablok regression analysis: slope 1.14, intercept +2.5). In healthy subjects and clinical subgroups, we confirmed the differences in SHBG values reported in the literature. The Elecsys ® SHBG immunoassay provides precision and reliability in combination with reduced turnaround time.