A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF PARTS 1 AND 2 OF THE FIRST ROUND ROBINENDOTOXIN ASSAY STUDY AND A BRIEF PREVIEW OF THE NEXT ROUND

Authors: Chun, David; Chew, Victor; BARTLETT, KAREN - UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COL; GORDON, TERRY - NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MED; JACOBS, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA; LARSSON, BRITT-MARIE - NIWL; LARSSON, LENNART - DEPT OF MEDICAL MICROBIOL; LEWIS, DANIEL - NIOSH; LIESIVUORI, JYRKI - KUOPIO REGIONAL INSTITUTE; MICHEL, OLIVIER - HOSPITAL UNIV ST-PIERRE

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/3/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: Chun, D.T., Chew, V., Bartlett, K., Gordon, T., Jacobs, R.R., Larsson, B., Larsson, L., Lewis, D.M., Liesivuori, J., Michel, O. A quick summary of the highlights of parts 1 and 2 of the first round robinendotoxin assay study and a brief preview of the next round. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, National Cotton Council, Memphis, TN. 1999. v.1, p 132-138.

Interpretive Summary: The results from a two-part endotoxin assay study between different laboratories used filter membranes with the same approximate amount and type of cotton dust. The endotoxin assays were done by laboratories that 'routinely' perform endotoxin analysis. Each of these laboratories performed the analysis using the methodology common to their laboratory. The results from the first part of the study showed that when different laboratories assay almost identical samples for endotoxin that the results can vary by as much as one or more orders of magnitude. However, the variation within a laboratory was very small and ranking of samples to different endotoxin levels is valid. The LAL assays only measured soluble endotoxin and the concentrations reported were a tenth to a hundredth of the total sample endotoxin. In the second part of the study, the results were encouraging since by just adopting a common extraction protocol, the differences between laboratories was reduced considerably. This suggests strongly that further standardization might reduce the differences even more to the point that results between laboratories might become directly comparable.

Technical Abstract: The results from a two-part interlaboratory endotoxin assay study used filter membranes with the same approximate amount and type of cotton dust. Endotoxin assays were done by laboratories that 'routinely' perform endotoxin analysis. Each laboratory performed the analysis using its own in-house procedures. The results from the first part of the study showed that when different laboratories assay almost identical samples for endotoxin that the results can vary by as much as one or more orders of magnitude. However, the intralaboratory variations were very small and ranking of samples to different endotoxin levels is valid. The LAL assays only measured soluble endotoxin and the concentrations reported were a tenth to a hundredth of the total sample of endotoxin. In the second part of the study, the results were encouraging since by just adopting a common extraction protocol, the gap between laboratories was reduced considerably. .This suggests strongly that further standardization might reduce the differences even more to the point that interlaboratory results might become directly comparable.