As recognition of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease becomes more widespread, the importance of appropriately ordering and interpreting diagnostic testing for this antibody increases. Several assays are commercially available for MOG testing, and based on a few small studies with very few discrepant results, some have suggested that live cell-based assays (CBA) are superior to fixed CBA for clinical MOG antibody testing. We aimed to determine the real-world agreement between a fixed and live CBA for MOG using two of the most commonly available commercial testing platforms.
We compared paired clinical samples tested at two national clinical reference laboratories and determined the real-world agreement between the fixed CBA and live CBA.
Of 322 paired samples tested on both platforms, 53 were positive and 246 were negative by both methodologies (agreement 92.9%, Cohen’s kappa 0.78, [0.69-0.86]). Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.80 (
Overall, there is excellent agreement between fixed and live CBA for MOG antibody testing in a real-world clinical laboratory setting. Clinicians should be aware of which method they use to assess any given patient, as titers are comparable, but not identical between the assays.