Natural human chorionic gonadotropin .beta.-core molecule
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services
InventorsDiana L. Blithe, Robert E. Wehmann, Bruce C. Nisula
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the purification of the human chorionic gonadotropin .beta.-core molecule which can then be used as the antigen in the preparation of antibodies to the .beta.-core molecule. The combination of the purified .beta.-core molecule and the antibodies can be used in an immunoassay kit to measure .beta.-core molecules in the presence of structurally similar molecules, i.e., hCG, LH, hCG.beta.-subunit and LH.beta.-subunit. Measurement of the .beta.-core molecule is particularly useful in testing for pregnancy and many malignancies.
Claims3
Chorionic gonadotropin .beta.-core molecule in pure form, said molecule having an apparent molecular weight of about 17,500 daltons on SDS-PAGE under non-reducing conditions and having from two to three fragments of apparent molecular weights of about 8,000, 6,000 or 3,500 on SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions, said .beta.-core molecule being substantially free of sialic acid and galactose moieties.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.