IMMUNODIAGNOSIS OF ALPHA-CHAIN DISEASE

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 36  (2) , 189-197
Abstract
Since the early diagnosis of .alpha. chain disease (.alpha.CD) is essential to successful treatment and to epidemiological studies, the available immunodiagnostic techniques were compared for their sensitivity, specificity and ease of performance on a panel of 16 sera, comprising 10 .alpha.CD sera and 6 control sera containing Ig[immunoglobulin]A myeloma protein or high levels of polyclonal IgA. Immunoselection by immunoelectrophoresis into gel containing a specially developed anti-Fab.alpha. antiserum provided the most sensitive and specific detection system for .alpha.CD protein. The same technique using anti-L chain antiserum for immunoselection was also highly sensitive, but proved less specific, being prone to false positives with difficult IgA myeloma proteins. Somewhat less sensitive, but specific and simple to perform, was immunoelectrophoresis using an antiserum recognizing the conformational specificities of Fab.alpha. and those of the constant region of .alpha. chains. Immunoselection using the Ouchterlony or rocket techniques was less sensitive and prone to false positives when some IgA myeloma sera were tested.