Cautions

Results obtained with different glucagon assays can differ. This can be caused by use of different calibration standards or variable cross-reactivity with different isoforms of glucagon, not all of which are biologically active.

The monoclonal antibodies used in this assay only detect the full-length glucagon (amino acids1-29) and do not cross react with glucagon fragments or closely related peptides such as glicentin, oxyntomodulin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), GLP-2, or glicentin-related pancreatic polypeptide.

Glucagon serial measurements should always be performed using the same assay.

Patients with diabetes, acromegaly, or Cushing syndrome or who are obese have higher glucagon levels.

Tumor marker tests, including glucagon, are not specific for malignancy. All immunometric assays can, on rare occasions, be subject to hooking at extremely high analyte concentrations (false-low results), heterophilic antibody interference (false-high results), or autoantibody interference (unpredictable effects). If the laboratory result does not fit the clinical picture, these possibilities should be considered.

In rare cases, some individuals can develop antibodies to mouse or other animal antibodies (often referred to as human anti-mouse antibodies [HAMA] or heterophile antibodies), which may cause interference in some immunoassays. Caution should be used in interpretation of results, and the laboratory should be alerted if the result does not correlate with the clinical presentation.