We studied retrospectively levels of antimyelin antibody in a group of 13 multiple sclerosis patients who underwent a clinical trial of long-term, high dose (2.0-4.5 mg/kg/day) azathiaprine therapy. In apparent contrast with collagen vascular disease associated with antitissue antibody, azathiaprine therapy was not associated with significant change in titres of antimyelin antibody. Variation o...

BACKGROUND From 2007 to 2010, (the southern part of) the Netherlands experienced a large Q fever epidemic, with more than 4,000 reported symptomatic cases. Approximately 1 - 5% of the acute Q fever patients develop chronic Q fever. A high IgG antibody titre against phase I of Coxiella burnetii during follow-up is considered a marker of chronic Q fever. However, there is uncertainty about the si...

BACKGROUND Our aim was to assess the outcome of pregnancies complicated by Brucella infection. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING EL-Hasan National Hospital, El-Rawad Clinic, TAIF, SAUDI ARABIA (where the practical part of the study was accomplished) and Obstetrics & Gynecology Department, Mansoura University Hospital (where the theoretical part of the study was completed). METHODS This st...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Though sensitive screening assays for detection of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) are available, occasional cases of post-transfusion hepatitis B virus infection (PTH) still occur. The present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of anti-hepatitis B core (anti-HBc) positivity and presence of HBV-DNA in serum sample of healthy blood donors negative for ...

BACKGROUND The target group for severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease prevention is infants under 6 months of age. Vaccine boosting of antibody titres in pregnant mothers could protect these young infants from severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) associated disease. Quantifying protective levels of RSV-specific maternal antibody at birth would inform vaccine development. METHOD...

OBJECTIVE We developed an assay that detects autoantibodies against the main immunogenic region (MIR) located at the extracellular end of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) α subunit, and investigated its clinical relevance in myasthenia gravis (MG). METHODS In this retrospective cohort study, we measured MIR antibody (Ab) titres in sera obtained before treatment and analysed their a...

Background: The ability of polyclonal antibodies to react with many epitopes of an antigen makes them valuable reagents in research and diagnosis. The aim of this study was purification of mouse IgG2a and production of polyclonal antibody against purified mouse IgG2a subclass. Materials and Methods: Mouse IgG2a was purified by ProA affinity. Verification method of the purified antibody was S...

L-Lysine HCI is being proposed to be a possible biocompatible adjuvant to enhance immune response by virtue of its probable non-specific bridging action and cellular proliferation properties. This proposal has been tried to be substantiated by designing an in vitro culture protocol, varying the concentration of L-lysine HCI and its further in vivo application. Splenic lymphocyte population has ...