Multicenter evaluation of the Paragon CZE™ 2000 capillary zone electrophoresis system for serum protein electrophoresis and monoclonal component typing

Serum protein electrophoresis and typing of monoclonal components (MCs) are routine but time-consuming and technically demanding assays. We evaluated capillary electrophoresis (Paragon CZE(TM) 2000) for automation of the two assays. CZE and cellulose acetate electrophoresis gave similar data on 794 samples. Within-run and between-run CVs were <2% for albumin and gamma-globulins and 4-7% for alpha(1)-, alpha(2)-, and beta-globulins. Bilirubin, hemoglobin, triglycerides, and fibrinogen were found not to interfere. No carryover by capillaries was detected. The detection limit for MC was <0.5 g/L. MC assessment by immunosubtraction on 403 samples identified the monoclonal type in all samples with peak concentrations >10 g/L; only 50% of MCs that could not be quantified by densitometric scan were typed.