The use of a measles latex reagent for the determination of measles antibodies and in a specific test for multiple sclerosis.

Measles virus antigens covalently linked to latex spheres were used for measuring measles-specific antibodies in a direct agglutination test either in microtitre plates or as a rapid slide-agglutination test. The titres were compared to that obtained by conventional assays. The measles-latex spheres were also used as the antigen for a radio-immuno assay. By incorporating a 14C-radioactive marker into the measles-latex spheres their interaction with lymphocytes from multiple sclerosis and control patients was determined. Lymphocytes from multiple sclerosis patients reacted with a higher percentage of beads at low bead/lymphocyte ratios compared with controls, whereas the reverse was found when the ratio of beads was increased.