Beckman Coulter has expanded its menu for reproductive disease state management with the introduction of the Access Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) assay for use in the differential diagnosis of conditions of chronic or excessive androgenic activity. The Access SHBG assay may also be used in conjunction with the Access Testosterone assay to provide a calculated free androgen index¹.

"With the addition of the Access SHBG assay, Beckman Coulter continues to lead the industry in reproductive disease state management by offering essential reproductive assays on one platform," said John Blackwood, vice president and general manager of the Immunoassay Business Center at Beckman Coulter.

Access reproductive solutions are part of a comprehensive assay menu featured on Access and UniCel Immunoassay Systems, including the i class family of integrated systems: UniCel DxC 880i , UniCel DxC 660i , UniCel DxC 680i , the UniCel DxC 860i  and the UniCel 600i. For more information, please visit http://www.beckmancoulter.com/products/testmenu/access.asp.

About SHBG
SHBG is responsible for the transport of testosterone and estradiol in the blood. Less than two percent of sex hormones are free, i.e., able to enter a cell and exert biological activity by activating their specific receptor, with the remainder bound with high affinity to SHBG and low affinity to albumin. The binding of sex hormones to SHBG inhibits their function. Therefore, bioavailability of sex hormones is influenced by the level of SHBG².

¹Vermeulen A, Verdonck L, Kaufman J. A critical evaluation of simple methods for the estimation of a free testosterone in serum. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1999 Oct; 84 (10):3666-72.
²Burtis CA, Ashwood ER. Tietz textbook of clinical chemistry. Saunders, 2006. p. 2011-2.

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