Assessing donor suitability for blood donation: Utility of Geenius HIV 1/2 confirmatory assay

Nevenka Bujandric; Jasmina Grujic; Zorana Budakov Obradovic

doi:10.1016/j.transci.2020.103008

Assessing donor suitability for blood donation: Utility of Geenius HIV 1/2 confirmatory assay

Transfus Apher Sci. 2021 Feb;60(1):103008. doi: 10.1016/j.transci.2020.103008. Epub 2020 Nov 6.

Authors

Nevenka Bujandric¹, Jasmina Grujic², Zorana Budakov Obradovic³

Affiliations

¹ Blood Transfusion Institute Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; The Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Electronic address: nevenka.bujandric@mf.uns.ac.rs.
² Blood Transfusion Institute Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; The Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Electronic address: jasmina.grujic@mf.uns.ac.rs.
³ Blood Transfusion Institute Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; The Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Electronic address: zorana.budakov-obradovic@mf.uns.ac.rs.

PMID: 33183985
DOI: 10.1016/j.transci.2020.103008

Abstract

Background: Blood donor care and blood safety require a quick and accurate decision on the presence or absence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, based on the proper selection of blood donors, serological and molecular HIV testing as well as western blot test. The aim was investigating the possibility of inclusion of Geenius HIV 1/2 Confirmatory Assay in blood donor testing algorithm in order to shorten test time and decrease the number of indeterminate results.

Methods: A total of 75 archived serum/plasma samples were tested. Their previous serological and molecular HIV results were: 3 negative samples, 7 positive samples, 65 serological indeterminate or positive but confirmatory testing and NAT negative samples.

Results: Geenius assay confirmed the presence of antibodies in all blood donors with HIV positive serology and Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT). HIV-1 gp160 and gp41 antibodies were detected in these donors, while p31 and p24 antibodies were not detected in two and three donors, respectively. HIV-2 antibodies gp36 and gp140 were not found. Blood donor with HIV indeterminate or positive serology but negative confirmatory testing and NAT, were negative in Geenius assay. Conclusion The results obtained are consistent with western blot results. The assay proved simple and quick to perform. Studies have confirmed the possibility of introducing Bio-Rad Geenius into a routine blood donor testing protocol.

Keywords: Blood donors; Blotting; HIV; Nucleic acid amplification techniques; Serologic tests; Western.

MeSH terms

Biological Assay / methods*
Blood Donors / statistics & numerical data*
HIV-1 / immunology*
HIV-2 / immunology*
Humans
Prospective Studies