ANTIGENIC DEFINITION OF CARDIAC TROPONIN-I

The presence of cardiac troponin I in the serum is now considered as o ne of the most specific biochemical markers of acute myocardial infarc tion. To improve the knowledge of the antigenic properties of cardiac Troponin I, a set of monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies a gainst human cardiac troponin I has been tested with overlapping pepti des covering the cardiac troponin I sequence. The results indicate tha t N-terminal and C-terminal cardiac troponin I regions were most often recognized by poly- and monoclonal antibodies. These observations are valuable for choosing the best combination of monoclonal antibodies t o set up new immunoassays to detect serum cardiac troponin I earlier a fter myocardial damage, to understand better which forms are released, and finally to propose appropriate cardiac troponin I standards.