Clinical and Analytical Evaluation of an Enzyme Immunoassay for Myelin Basic Protein in Cerebrospinal Fluid

cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is commonly used as a bio-chemical marker of demyelination in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Our aim was to develop a sufficiently sensitive ELISA for MBP and evaluate it clinically in patients with MS. Methods: The ELISA used anti-bovine MBP antibody coated on plates and biotinylated anti-MBP antibody. The bound antibody complex was quantified with streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase. MBP was deter-mined in CSF from 84 MS patients and 55 patients with other neurological diseases. Results: The respective within- and between-assay CVs were 4.7 % and 7.2 % at 200 ng/L, and 6.3 % and 8.8 % at 2000 ng/L. The detection limit was 30 ng/L. Most of the MS patients with acute exacerbations had markedl