Immunonephelometric determination of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid in various neurological disorders.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the diagnostic value of nine specific proteins in differentiating multiple sclerosis from other neurological disorders. The quantitative determination of albumin, transferrin, haptoglobin, IgG, IgA, IgM, orosomucoid, complement-C3 and prealbumin was carried out using an automated immunonephelometric method. Using a combination of IgG-index ((Sp-IgG/S-IgG)/(Sp-albumin/S-albumin)) and haptoglobin-index ((Sp-haptoglobin/S-haptoglobin)/(Sp-albumin/S-albumin)) it is possible to increase the diagnostic value. Using a modified index it is possible to obtain the same diagnostic value by combining modified IgG-index ((Sp-IgG/S-IgG)/Sp-albumin) and modified haptoglobin-index ((Sp-haptoglobin/S-haptoglobin)/Sp-albumin). The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity for the modified combined index was 0.60 and 1.00, respectively.