Clin Chem 2002 Jan;48(1):167-73
Richard S, Miossec V, Moreau JF,
Taupin JL.
Laboratory of Immunology, Centre
Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Bordeaux, 33076 Bordeaux, France.
BACKGROUND:
The detection of intrathecal synthesis
of immunoglobulins is used in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS).
We tested the semiautomated immunofixation-peroxidase (IFPOD) technique,
which uses high-resolution agarose gel electrophoresis (HRAGE) directly
followed by immunofixation with a peroxidase-labeled anti-IgG antiserum
to detect oligoclonal immunoglobulins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
METHODS:
We analyzed 230 consecutive matched
serum/CSF pairs that arrived in the laboratory over a 6-month period with
both IFPOD and our routine techniques, immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE)
and HRAGE. For IFPOD, CSF samples were not concentrated before testing.
RESULTS:
Among the 230 samples were 12 clinically
definite MS, 33 clinically probable, and 20 clinically possible MS samples.
IFPOD and HRAGE + IFE each detected oligoclonal IgG in CSF in 10, 16, and
7 cases of these respective groups. For clinically definite MS, sensitivity
and specificity (95% confidence intervals) were, respectively, 83% (51-97%)
and 79% (73-84%).
CONCLUSIONS:
The IFPOD technique performs comparably
to other analytical methods, without the requirement for sample concentration,
and may represent an attractive alternative in testing for intrathecal
immunoglobulin synthesis.
PMID: 11751552 [PubMed - in process]