title: Determination of medullasin levels for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To obtain a simple and reliable clinical parameter for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis among patients with neurological diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Heparinized peripheral blood was obtained from patients with multiple sclerosis and those with non-inflammatory neurological diseases and healthy volunteers. A new enzyme immunoassay method determining medullasin levels in human granulocytes was developed by using mouse monoclonal antibody against medullasin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A newly developed enzyme immunoassay method for medullasin can detect as little as 1 ng/ml medullasin and results can be obtained within 2 h. Eighty-five out of 112 patients with multiple sclerosis (75.8%) showed positive results (above means of normals + 2 SD) in the medullasin test, while 15.4% (12/78) of patients with non-inflammatory neurological disease had positive results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This newly developed enzyme immunoassay method for medullasin is considered to be a useful paraclinical test for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Jissen Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saida
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urabe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Katsuragi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizuno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D010450:Endopeptidases; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases