Unexpected high levels of Cobalamin (Vitamin B12): Numerous interferences are decreased by PEG treatment.

Abstract

Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) deficiency is a common cause of anemia. High levels of serum cobalamin is mainly due to cobalamin supplementation. It has also been associated with hematological malignancies, liver or renal diseases. Cobalamin is sometimes found elevated in autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases but concerns are raised on the fact that those serum increases might be due to interference with immunoassays. Those data’s shed the lights on the high prevalence of interference in patients with unexpected high cobalamin level. Precipitation with PEG appears to be an easy and costless method to increase the reliability of cobalamin dosage. In accordance with our results, we recommand to treat systematically every serum with a cobalamin >1500 ng/L