New Assays for Monitoring Thyroid Conditions

Two assays have been developed to help monitor thyroid conditions by providing the quantitative determination of thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) in human serum and plasma.

Access Tg provides a fast and accurate way to monitor local and metastatic thyroid tissue in patients, while Access TgAb aids in the diagnosis of certain thyroid disorders, such as Hashimoto's disease, Graves' disease, and nontoxic goiters. Products of Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, CA, USA), the assays enable laboratories, hospitals, and endocrinology clinics to expand the thyroid testing panels on their Access and Access 2 immunoassay systems.

For patients with TgAb, which may interfere with Tg measurement and cause false high or false low values, the Access TgAb assay helps determine the level of Tg autoantibodies in patients who require serum Tg measurements. The Access TgAb assay's onboard reagent stability and the calibration curve stability are both 56 days. The assay helps to streamline the sample-handling process because no manual predilution is required.

Tg is a protein produced by the human thyroid gland in either the normal part of the gland or in a cancerous tumor. When a patient's thyroid gland has been completely removed, the quantitative measurement of Tg in a blood sample can be used to determine whether there is any part of the cancerous tumor left behind or whether a new tumor may be growing. TgAb is often present in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease. Patients with Graves' disease and Hashimoto's disease have concentrations of about 30% and 85%, respectively.




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