Steroid testing in hospitals is crucial for diagnosing endocrine disorders and monitoring treatment efficacy for various conditions. Samples must be carefully prepared for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, often requiring multiple steps like centrifugation and solid phase extraction. Düzen Laboratory streamlines its steroid testing process by using Tecan’s specialized kits, which simplify sample preparation and ensure fast and accurate results
Düzen Laboratory Group is a private clinical laboratory with a patient-oriented approach, aiming to assist patients and doctors by delivering detailed clinical insights through comprehensive interpretations of test results. Operating via 10 branches located in four different towns in Türkiye, the laboratory offers a wide range of services including microbiology, genetics, hematology and endocrinology. Düzen’s Specialized Chemistry Department focuses on metabolic diseases, analyzing samples for amino acids, organic acids, lysosomal storage diseases, enzyme biomarkers and various vitamins. The department also conducts extensive steroid testing – including panels for adrenal steroids, estrogens, androgens and endo-testosterone – to ensure accurate diagnoses and effective treatment monitoring.
Steroids are organic compounds that play critical roles in hormone regulation, inflammation control and immune function. Measuring the levels of various steroids can therefore help in the diagnosis of a number of health issues, including endocrine disorders, autoimmune diseases and metabolic imbalances. Both blood and urine samples are routinely used for steroid testing, but these need to be prepared before they can be analyzed. Common preparation techniques include centrifugation to separate the serum or plasma, solid phase extraction to isolate steroids from the samples, and derivatization to enhance detection of these steroids by analytical instruments like liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Sample preparation can be streamlined by integrating commercial kits with a liquid handling platform, enhancing efficiency and consistency. Elif Erkan Kurdoglu, Technical Director of Düzen Laboratories, explained: “Our lab does not typically use commercial kits, as we rely on methods developed in house, but the analysis of steroid hormones presented several challenges, such as the complexity of preparing calibration standards and quality control samples for 17 different steroidal hormones. Steroids and their metabolites are a heterogeneous mix of compounds with varying chemical properties, making sample preparation critical for accurate quantification. Tecan’s Steroid Panel LC-MS* kit simplifies this process by providing traceable calibration and making sample preparation easy and reliable. These kits allow us to evaluate different groups of steroids in a single run, while analyzing 86 patient samples in one plate. The use of the Steroid Panel Kit also helped to prevent clogging of SPE cartridges and analytical systems by improving sample preparation. We are also using the *Tec-Trace™ range of calibrators and controls, which cover a broad spectrum of analytes and concentrations. Combining the Tecan kits with the Resolvex® M10 manual positive pressure processor has helped to improve the efficiency and reliability of our steroid hormone analysis workflow. This approach is also very cost effective, as it allows us to work with smaller volumes of samples and fewer consumables.”
The Steroid Panel kit comes with all the necessary consumables, and its purpose is to streamline this type of MS analysis. Selen Yiğit, Laboratory specialist-R&D department added: “Tecan provides us with everything we need to set up and run the sample preparation protocol in a format that is cost-effective and easy to ship, which is important for us. The kit includes all of the consumables required, including pre-mixed metabolites and internal standards. This allows them to be analyzed simultaneously, which reduces costs and simplifies the process. The kits also come with a clear and detailed manual, and are easy to use. Crucially, the resulting samples work well with our MS instruments, even in negative ion modes.”
Elif continued: “Tecan has been very supportive – right from our initial contact – helping with test set-up and providing ongoing support. Our relationship with the company has been excellent, and we are eager to collaborate further, incorporating additional kits from Tecan into our routine workflows in the future.”
* Product availability and regulatory status may vary across regions outside the EU depending on local country-specific regulation. Please consult your local Tecan office for more information. In the USA: For research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures.