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An assay to quantify species-specific anti-JC virus antibody levels in MS patients

Summary: This study looked at developing an assay for the reliable quantification of highly species-specific anti-JCV antibody levels and to compare the results with pre-existing data from the StratifyJCV® test.

The researchers tested the sera of 175 MS patients and matched non-MS-controls for anti-JCV antibodies using glutathione S-transferase-tagged-VP1 as antigen. In order to minimise the cross-reactivity between shared epitopes of JCV-VP1 and BKV-VP1, they pre-absorbed the sera with soluble heterologous VP1 in contrast to StratifyJCV® test as well as measuring the percentage of reduction in antibody reactivity by soluble JCV-VP1 relative to the reduced reactivity after pre-incubation with soluble BKV-VP1 fusion protein.

Results from this study showed good inter-assay agreement with StratifyJCV® test and strong correlation for antibody reactivity. This demonstrates reliable quantification of anti-JCV antibodies, which shows good agreement with results from StratifyJCV® test, which is a qualitative assay. This assay may be used as an additional tool for PML risk assessment........ Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/index.cfm/tysabri

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