Table 2.
Advantages and disadvantages characteristics of hepatitis B virus serological assays
| Technique | Advantages | Disadvantage | Commercial assays | Ref. |
| RIA | High sensitivity | High cost | IRMA kit (North Institute of Biological Technology, Beijing, China) | [38,39,44] |
| Risk to operator | ||||
| EIA | Automation | Time consuming, need sophisticated equipment and trained technicians, continuous supply of electricity, not suitable for field settings | ETI-AB-AUK-3 (DiaSorin) | [41,42,47,48] |
| High reproducible results | Enzygnost anti-HBs (Dade Behring) | |||
| Low cost | Monolisa anti-HBs (Bio-Rad Laboratories) | |||
| MEIA | High sensitivity | Sophisticated equipment, trained technicians, continuous supply of electricity | Abbott Axsym AUSAB assay | [47] |
| Faster than other immunological methods | ||||
| ECLIA | High sensitivity | High cost, sophisticated equipment, trained technicians, continuous supply of electricity | Modular E170 analyzer, Roche Diagnostics | [43,44,46] |
| Results available in few minutes | ||||
| Automation | ||||
| CLIA | High sensitivity and specificity Automation | High cost, sophisticated equipment, trained technicians, continuous supply of electricity | Advia Centaur anti-HBs | [47] |
| Vitros anti-HBs on the Vitros ECI Immunodiagnostic system (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics) | ||||
| Roche Elecsys anti-HBs on the Modular System (Roche Diagnostics) | ||||
| Liaison anti-HBs on the Liaison system (DiaSorin) Abbott Architect anti-HBs assay on the Architect i2000 system (Abbott) | ||||
| CMIA | High sensitivity and specificity Automation | High cost, sophisticated equipment, trained technicians, continuous supply of electricity | Architect i2000 analyzer (Abbott Diagnostics) | [44] |
| Rapid point-of-care tests | Simplicity, do not need sophisticated equipaments, minimum training to execute the assay, storage and performance at room temperature, results can be read in up to 10 min | Poor performance in seroconversion panels and among individuals infected by several HBV mutants | Determine™ HBsAg (Abbott Laboratories) | [49-56] |
| Virucheck® HBsAg (Orchid Biomedical Systems) | ||||
| Cypress HBsAg (Cypress Diagnostics) | ||||
| Hexagon® HBsAg (Human) | ||||
| Cortez Rapidtest (Cortez Diagnostics) | ||||
| VIKIA HBsAg (Biomériuex) | ||||
| Quick Profile™ (Lumiquick) | ||||
| DRW-HBsAg v2.0 (Diagnostics for the Real WorldTM) | ||||
| AMRAD ICT | ||||
| Binax | ||||
| Advanced quality™ one step test (Intec Products) |
HBV: Hepatitis B virus; RIA: Radioimmunoassay; EIA: Enzyme immunoassay; MEIA: Micro-particle enzyme immunoassay; ECLIA: Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay; CLIA: Chemiluminescence immunoassay; CMIA: Chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay; HBsAg: Epatitis B surface antigen; Anti-HBs: Antibodies against HBsAg.