Cerebrospinal fluid protein fragments
AssigneeThe Government of the United States
InventorJohn N. Whitaker
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Abstract
The isolation and use of cerebrospinal fluid myelin encephalitogenic protein (EP) fragments as an indicator of disease activity in multiple sclerosis is disclosed. With the use of a double-antibody radioimmunoassay, it was determined that a portion of EP cross-reacting with residues 43-88 (EP-Pl) appears in the cerebrospinal fluid during periods of exacerbation.
Claims3
In a method for detecting an acute phase of multiple sclerosis in a patient, the improvement which comprises subjecting the cerebrospinal fluid of said patient to a double antibody radioimmunoassay procedure to determine the presence therein of a fragment of encephalitogenic protein (EP) containing residues 43-88, said fragment being designated EP-P1, said radioimmunoassay procedure comprising forming a radioimmunoassay reaction mixture containing said cerebrospinal fluid, rabbit anti-EP serum, and .sup.125 I-EP-P1 to produce a radioactive product including the reaction product of said anti-EP serum and said .sup.125 I-EP-P1, adding a second antibody to precipitate said radioactive product, and measuring the radioactivity of said precipitated radioactive product from which the presence of the EP-P1 fragment is determined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.