THE DETERMINATION OF AUTOIMMUNE ANTIBODIE S BY WESTERN-BLOT TECHNIQUEIN THE ROUTINE LABORATORY - PROBLEMS ARISING WITH THE DETERMINATION AND EVALUATION OF 3 DIFFERENT TEST KITS

For routine testing Western blot technique is a suitable method for th e detection of autoimmune antibodies. Advantages of this procedure are the fast performance even for single samples, the detection of many d ifferent antibodies in one assay, and the possibility to save the stri ps for later reevaluation. There are several commercial test kits avai lable. The spectrum of antibodies to be detected and the exact molecul ar weight of the antigens determine the choice of the test kit. Test k its from the companies AID (A), Viramed (V), and Biolab (B) were compa red using serum samples from selected patients. Kits A and V were sens itive especially for the detection of SSA(Ro) and SSB(La) antibodies. The results using these two test kits corresponded well with the respe ctive clinical diagnoses. Test kit A detected the highest number of di fferent antibodies. The question of differentiating between U1-snRNP a nd Sm antibodies by immunoblotting is discussed.