Laboratory medicine is like the heart of medical diagnosis. Laboratory technicians have a never big role to play when it come to diagnosis and treatment of patients. It is therefore very important for those already in the field and we the generics to be open minded and very sound in knowledge which would enable us solve serious medical problems that would come our way in the future. This cannot be attained without teamwork with other very relevant medical professionals.
We are very much aware that we need serum samples and not plasma when performing serological tests such as complement assay in other to find out if the patient is deficient in certain complement factors which prevents him or her from mounting an immune response and ultimately making the patient prone to a wide range of diseases.
Acute inflammation can raise complement levels. Conversely, genetic deficiencies and deficiencies as the results of chronic activation can lower levels of complement. However, the most common cause of measurements giving low complement levels is incorrectly processed serum samples. With much emphasis it is very important that samples that are to be taken for complement assay should be taken in red top tubes. serum samples should be taken and not plasma.
The reason is that when plasma samples are taken using Ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid(EDTA) tube or Heparinized tube, the EDTA and heparin would cause chelation, decreasing the calcium and magnesium levels in the sample. Calcium is much needed to keep C1q, C1r, and C1s together and magnesium is needed for C2 activation by the classical pathway and for factor B activation in the alternative pathway. The serum should be separated from the clot and should be frozen and stored at negative seventy degree celcius until analysis.
Deficiencies in the C1, C4 and C2 recognition and activation parts of the classical pathway are linked to autoimmune connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and recurrent infections with staphylococcus and streptococcus. Deficiencies in the lectin pathway are associated with bacterial infections in infants. Deficiencies in C1NH, which is involved in inhibiting both the classical and lectin patheways because of the interactions of the coagulation and complement pathways and vascular permeability, can cause hereditary angioedema, a rare disease, which, as its ne indicates , runs in families. People with this disease experience rapid swelling of an effected site. The swelling can constrict airways and can be life threatening.
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