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A novel and rapid assay for the detection of neutralizing antibodies against interferon-beta

Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

J Harvey

Bayer Diagnostics, Emeryville, CA, USA

F Schautzer

Department of Neurology, County Hospital, Villach, Austria

S Kascha

Department of Neurology, County Hospital, Rankweil, Austria

D Bibl

Department of Neurology, General Hospital, Linz, Austria

R Egg

Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

M Reindl

Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

T Berger

Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

F Deisenhammer

Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, florian.deisenhammer{at}uibk.ac.at

There is evidence that neutralizing antibodies (NA B) have a negative influence on the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging effects of interferon-beta (IFNb) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The current methods for NA B detectio n are restricted to specialized laboratories because they require a cell culture and sometimes a viral culture. Results are typically obtained after several weeks. Therefore, the development of a simple and rapid assay for the detectio n of NA B was sought. Whole blood samples from 28 NAB-positive patients and 110 NAB-negative patients (52 with IFNb and 58 without IFNb therapy) were incubated with IFNb 976 IU/mL for 24 hours. MxA protein levels-a specific marker of class 1 IFN bioactivity-were measured in paired samples with and without IFNb incubatio n and the difference in MxA levels was calculated. The mean increase of MxA levels after stimulation with IFNb in the NAB-positive group was 8 ng/mL (range 0-44 ng/mL) and in the NA B-negative group was 84 ng/mL (range 0-302 ng/mL). Using an increase of 22.5 ng/mL as cut-off, the specificity of the MxA stimulation assay was 81.2% and the sensitivity was 96.4%. The whole blood MxA stimulation assay is virtually as sensitive as the conventional NA B assay but somewhat less specific. However, this is outweighed by the procedural advantage of the assay, which is simpler, quicker and much less expensive.

Key Words: antibodies • biological availability • blood • interferon-beta • multiple sclerosis • neutralization test

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 9, No. 1, 32-35 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/1352458503ms889oa


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