BACKGROUND: Prothrombin/Protein Induced by Vitamin K Absence-II (PIVKA-II) is a candidate biomarker of hepatocellular cancer, recommended both for diagnostics and monitoring. The aim was to evaluate biological variation (BV) of serum PIVKA-II. METHODS: Within-subject (CVI) and between-subject (CVG) BV estimates were assessed in 14 healthy volunteers in a 6-week protocol. Serum concentrations of PIVKA-II were measured by a Roche Elecsys PIVKA-II diagnostic kit (cobas e8000). Precision (CVA) was assessed from duplicate measurements of all volunteers' samples. Two methods were used for the estimation of CVI: SD-ANOVA and CV-ANOVA method. We calculated the index of individuality (II) and reference change value. The experiment was fully compliant with EFLM database checklist. RESULTS: The CVI of PIVKA-II in healthy persons, as calculated by two statistical methods, were 8.2% (SD-ANOVA with CVA of 3.2%) and 9.4% (CV-ANOVA) with CVA of 2.7%). The CVG was 19.5% (SD-ANOVA), and respective II and RCV were 0.42 and 24.4%. CONCLUSIONS: CVI and CVG of PIVKA-II were 8.2% and 19.5%, respectively, with CVA below 4%. The low II and RCV below 25% enable the use of this biomarker both for diagnostics and monitoring. More data are needed before the introduction of PIVKA-II into clinical practice.

3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Ruská 87 100 00 Praha 10 Czech Republic

Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Department of Laboratory Methods Vídeňská 1958 9 140 21 Praha 4 Czech Republic

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