BNP is an established biomarker widely used for heart failure diagnostics. Several companies provide immunoassays that enable quantitative detection of circulating BNP. However, the measured concentrations obtained with different assays vary considerably and thus the results are not directly comparable. One of the main sources for this variability is likely the use of different types of calibrators in each assay. Currently, there is no agreement on a BNP standard.

In this study our researchers, in collaboration with Prof. Fred S. Apple and his team, compared six different recombinant BNP-related proteins in order to find out if any of them would decrease the between-assay variability of five commercial BNP assays. Based on the findings in this study, one form of glycosylated BNP could be a good candidate to serve as a common calibrator for BNP immunoassays.

Read the article here.

See the audioslides for the paper below: