Practical evaluation of two commercial immunoassays for the quantification of steroid hormones in human saliva

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are certain issues using saliva as a sample for steroid hormone analysis in clinical diagnostics. Therefore, it is important to test whether currently available assays are suitable for this approach in a routine laboratory. OBJECTIVES: The analytical performance of two commercially available immunoassays was compared under routine conditions. In addition, salivary steroid hormone levels were compared with serum levels. METHODS: Saliva and serum samples were collected from healthy subjects. Afterwards, the concentration of cortisol, testosterone, progesterone and estradiol in saliva was measured by using the ADIVA Centaur® XP platform and commercially available manual ELISA kits. Serum levels of the selected steroid hormones were determined by using the ADVIA Centaur® platform. RESULTS: Currently, the ADVIA Centaur® XP platform cannot be used for the quantification of steroid hormones in saliva due to an insufficient calibration range. Commercially available ELISA kits on the other side are well suitable for this application. CONCLUSIONS: There are commercially available immunoassays which are sensitive enough for the determination of steroid hormones from saliva and can be used under routine conditions. However, the interpretation of salivary steroid hormone levels stays a challenging task due to the large variability of the results.