Randox Laboratories recently hosted a workshop at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry annual conference, titled “Lp(a) 50th Anniversary: Clinical Significance and Assay Evaluation.” Speaking at the session was Santica Marcovina, PhD, ScD, Research Professor of Medicine and Director, Northwest Lipid Metabolism and Diabetes Research Laboratories, University of Washington. Professor Marcovina highlighted the clinical usefulness of determining Lp(a) levels as a risk factor for coronary artery disease and the need to implement the standardization of the different methods to reduce the large degree of variability of results among laboratories.
“Lp(a) is characterized by the presence of multiple copies of kringle 4 type 2 domain,” Marcovina says. “These multiple repeats generate different isoforms of apo(a) in different individuals, and this size polymorphism greatly impacts the accuracy of Lp(a) values obtained by different methods. It’s therefore essential to evaluate the different diagnostic approaches for their ability to produce Lp(a) values that are minimally affected by the apo(a) size variation. One approach that has been demonstrated to be effective in minimizing the impact of apo(a) size variability on Lp(a) results is the use of multiple, independent standards to calibrate the assays.”
Randox offers a 5-point calibrator. Each calibrator is independent and represents the Lp(a) range from low to high with different apo(a) isoforms. According to company representatives, by having accuracy-based target values assigned to each calibrator, the Randox assays minimize the differences between the sizes of apo(a) in the sample and the calibrator. Learn more about the highly specific Lp(a) assay from Randox.
