Absorbance summation: A novel approach for analyzing high-throughput ELISA data in the absence of a standard

PLoS One. 2018 Jun 8;13(6):e0198528. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198528. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

We have developed a very simple method, termed absorbance summation (AS), for comparing protein concentrations between samples in ELISA assays without a standard. This method sums the observed absorbance values from all dilutions to obtain one data point for each sample to be used for comparison. AS is less computationally intensive than fitting sigmoidal curves, and it avoids the difficulty of parameter estimation for samples with absorbance values lying primarily at the lower tail of the curve. Our simulation studies showed that it performs much better than the sigmoidal curve fitting method and the conventional endpoint titer method. The power of this simple method is as high as the formal curve fitting followed by the estimation of area under the curve (AUC).

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Area Under Curve
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods*
  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Proteins / analysis*
  • ROC Curve
  • env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / analysis

Substances

  • Proteins
  • env Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
  • gp140 envelope protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1