Methods of using chimeric receptors to identify autoimmune disease
AssigneeDiagnostic Hybrids, Inc.
InventorJames L. Brown
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods and compositions useful in the diagnosis and management of autoimmune diseases. In particular, the present invention provides improved methods and compositions for the diagnosis and management of Graves' disease. The methods of the present invention not only avoids the need for radioactivity and are much simpler, economical, and rapid than methods traditionally used for the diagnosis of Graves' disease, but also improve upon the sensitivity and detection abilities of previous luciferase-based autoantibody detection assays.
Claims12
A method for detecting thyroid-stimulating antibodies, comprising:
- a) combining:
- 1) a sample suspected of containing thyroid-stimulating auto-antibodies and
- 2) a recombinant cell line comprising a chimeric thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor gene and a reporter gene, wherein the chimeric TSH receptor gene encodes a polypeptide by nucleotides 45 to 2234 of SEQ ID NO:3, said polypeptide comprising, in an N-terminal to C-terminal direction, the N-terminal portion of the human thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (hTSHR), a portion of the rat leutinizing hormone (rLH) receptor wherein said rLH portion comprises the amino acid sequence encoded by nucleotides 828-1046 of SEQ ID NO:3, and the C-terminal portion of the hTSHR;
- b) incubating the sample and recombinant cell line under conditions such that the reporter gene generates and detectable signal;
- and
- c) detecting the signal generated by the reporter gene.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.