Rapport in het kort
Due to the present developments in the field of
biocompatibility of medical devices, the need for the availability of
sensitive test methods with a high predictive value becomes more and more
urgent. Commercial available RIA-testkits for measurement of complement
activation are very expensive and their shelf lifetime is short because of
the halfs lifetime of the radioactive label. In this report is described
the development of an alternative C3a-testkit. Furthermore, the isolation
of C3, an essential component of the testkit is described. At the time,
purchase of a sufficient amount of C3 was impossible because of the non-
availability of budget. This compelled to isolate C3 by ourselves. Finally
two costs/benefits analysis were made. The first analysis consists of the
weigh purchasing kit components against isolation of these components. The
second analysis demonstrates the difference of the financial consequenses
between buying commercial testkits and the development of an own testkit.
The first analysis argues for the advantage of purchasing kit components
and, moreover this approach has some scientific advantages. The second
analysis tells strongly in favour of the development of an own tetkit, which
is five times cheaper in respect of costs per measurement. Moreover, the
alternative testkist has some technical advantages, such as: long shelf
lifetime, high sensitivity, no radioactive waste, and no special facilities
are needed.
