Human Erythropoietin/EPO Quantikine ELISA Kit, RUO

The Quantikine® Human Epo ELISA uses a monoclonal antibody and polyclonal antibody conjugate in a sandwich ELISA format. The assay is designed to measure Epo levels in serum or EDTA plasma in less than 4.5 hours, or less than 2.5 hours using the shaker protocol.

Benchtop Protocol Precision (Precision within an assay) Four samples of known concentration were tested thirty times to assess intra-assay precision

Shaker Protocol Precision (Precision between assays) Four samples of known concentration were tested in thirty separate assays to assess inter-assay precision. Assays were performed by at least three technicians using three lots of components

The recovery of human Epo spiked to levels throughout the range of the assay was evaluated in 10 serum and plasma samples.                                                                                                                                                                                          

Specimen Type	Protocol	Amount Needed	Mean Recovery
Serum	Benchtop	52.2 mlU/mL	100%
	Shaker	57.5 mlU/mL	93%
Plasma (EDTA)	Benchtop	51.8 mlU/mL	102%
	Shaker	55.9 mlU/mL	105%

Five matched serum and plasma specimens containing elevated Epo concentrations were diluted with Specimen Diluent and assayed using the Quantikine Human Epo ELISA. Diluted specimens demonstrated very good linearity when compared to neat concentrations of Epo.

Scientific Data

The over-expression of Epo may be associated with certain pathophysiological conditions (1, 2). Polycythemia exists when there is an overproduction of red blood cells (RBCs). Primary polycythemias, such as polycythemia vera, are caused by Epo-independent growth of erythrocytic progenitors from abnormal stem cells and low to normal levels of Epo are found in the serum of affected patients. On the other hand, various types of secondary polycythemias are associated with the production of higher than normal levels of Epo. The overproduction of Epo may be an adaptive response associated with conditions that produce tissue hypoxia, such as living at high altitude, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cyanotic heart disease, sleep apnea, high-affinity hemoglobinopathy, smoking, or localized renal hypoxia (1, 2). In other instances, excessive Epo levels are the result of production by neoplastic cells. Cases of increased Epo production and erythrocytosis have been reported for patients with renal carcinomas (3), benign renal tumors (4), Wilms' tumors, hepatomas (5), liver carcinomas (6), cerebellar hemangioblastomas (3, 7, 8), adrenal gland tumors (9), smooth muscle tumors (3, 9), and leiomyomas (10). 

Deficient Epo production is found in conjunction with certain forms of anemias. These include anemia of renal failure and end-stage renal disease (1, 2, 11), anemias of chronic disorders [chronic infections (1), autoimmune diseases (1), rheumatoid arthritis (12), AIDS (13), malignancies (14)], anemia of prematurity (2), anemia of hypothyroidism (2), and anemia of malnutrition (2). Many of these conditions are associated with the generation of IL-1 and TNF-alpha, factors that have been shown to be inhibitors of Epo activity (1, 15). Other forms of anemias, on the other hand, are due to Epo-independent causes and affected individuals show elevated levels of Epo (2). These forms include aplastic anemias, iron deficiency anemias, thalassemias, megaloblastic anemias, pure red cell aplasias, and myelodysplastic syndromes.