{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T05:15:22Z","timestamp":1773206122312,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760054400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Autoantibodies against fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) have been suggested as a diagnostic marker in both sensory large and small fiber neuropathy. Yet, their clinical relevance remains unclear and no standardized protocols for antibody testing exist. Here, we evaluate an anti-FGFR3 ELISA protocol in an inter-laboratory comparison.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We performed anti-FGFR3 ELISA on 42 serum samples of patients with sensory neuronopathy (n = 18), small fiber neuropathy (n = 18), and healthy controls (n = 6) in two independent centers in France (center 1) and Germany (center 2) using identical protocols, with double immunofluorescence staining on rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sections as a confirmational test.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Overall ELISA concordance was 34\/42 (81.0%, Cohen\u2019s kappa = 0.61, substantial agreement). Discordance occurred for sera with optical densities (OD) near the cut-off. ODs correlated (r = 0.68, p &amp;lt; 0.0001), but were lower at center 2 (median = 0.076 vs 0.293, p &amp;lt; 0.0001), indicating that cut-off values are laboratory-specific. 11\/16 (68.8%) ELISA-double-positive sera stained small DRG neurons, colocalizing with commercial anti-FGFR3 antibody, while positive binding was only found in 1\/20 (5%) of ELISA-negative sera (p &amp;lt; 0.0001). DRG-positive samples showed higher ODs than negative ones (p &amp;lt; 0.0001).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>We provide and evaluate a detailed ELISA protocol for anti-FGFR3 diagnostic assessment. Positive results near the threshold should be interpreted cautiously. Anti-FGFR3 DRG staining may be a useful confirmatory method and could increase diagnostic specificity. This study facilitates future studies on the diagnostic relevance of anti-FGFR3 autoantibodies in sensory neuropathies.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1604456","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T05:28:28Z","timestamp":1760074108000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Inter-laboratory comparison of a serum fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) antibody test in sensory neuropathies"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Luise","family":"Appeltshauser","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian 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