(P193) Performance of An Assay Agnostic Transport Media on the Roche cobas6800

Background

Cross-compatibility of specimen collection devices and kits is useful for performing a broad menu of testing and for positive result confirmation. The Roche cobas6800 platform can utilize specimens collected using a variety of transport media. As more collection kits become available, a medium that is stable and compatible across multiple platforms is ideal. We demonstrate the use of Copan eNAT transport media as an acceptable transport source for testing on the Roche cobas6800 platform.

Methods

A spiked four log 10-fold dilution series of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhea (NG), and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) were prepared in Copan eNAT tubes in duplicate and tested twice—within 24 hours of spiking and after 2 weeks post-storage at 2ºC-8ºC. Organism loads ranged from approximately 1-4 Log₁₀ (6-15 organisms to 6,200-12,500) per mL of eNAT media. Cycle threshold (Ct) values produced by the Roche cobas CT, NG, and TV qualitative nucleic acid test on the cobas6800 platform were captured. Stability and linearity were evaluated.

Results

The lowest dilution tested generating a positive result was 16, 12, and 6 organisms per mL for CT, NG, and TV, respectively. Linearity across the dilution series generated R² values greater than 0.940 for all assays. Ct values were not statistically different between 24-hour and post 2-week storage.

Conclusion

Based on our data, CT, NG, and TV can be detected from Copan eNAT media at organism loads within lower limits defined by the package inserts using Roche cobas6800 test kits. The media is stable at these organism loads for 2 weeks when stored at refrigerated temperatures.