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Background: In this study the clinical and technical performance of the CA125- detecting Bayer ACS:OV immunoluminometric serum assay was compared with three other well-established CA125-detecting assays., Methods: A total of 1112 serum samples was included in this evaluation: 462 from apparently healthy women, 153 from patients with benign ovarian disease, 163 from patients with malignant ovarian disease, 10 from patients with borderline ovarian malignancies and 78 samples from 12 ovarian cancer patients during monitoring of disease. Serum samples from women with malignant endometrial (n = 68) and colon (n = 32) diseases were also included. Moreover, serum samples from women with benign uterine disease and endometriosis (n = 136) plus 10 serum samples from men (n = 7) and women (n = 3) with human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA) after immunoscintigraphy were included. All samples were tested in duplicate with the Bayer ACS:OV, the Centocor CA125 II, the Abbott IMx CA125 and the Roche (formerly Boehringer Mannheim) Enzymun-Test CA125 II assays., Results: The clinical performance of the Bayer ACS:OV assay, assessed in various patient groups, was similar to that of the two other automated assays. In serum from patients with benign diseases the highest values were found in patients with benign ovarian tumours. In the ovarian cancer patients followed during the course of disease we found similar marker patterns with all four assays. In contrast to the Roche Enzymun-CA125 II assay and to a lesser extent the Centocor CA125 II assay, the Bayer ACS:OV assay was less sensitive to interference from HAMA., Conclusion: The Bayer ACS:OV assay is a precise and reliable test for the quantification of CA125 in serum.

This study was designed, first, to test a new system for aspiration of human nasal secretions and, secondly, to evaluate protein and immunoglobulin concentrations in these secretions at different levels of secretory activity. The direct aspiration system combines the advantages of minimal irritation of the nasal mucosa with the facility to determine concentrations per gram of secretion. The total protein and immunoglobulin concentrations were inversely related to the amount of secretion obtained. Variations in fluid secretion throughout the day may be responsible for this relationship. The inverse relationship was much more significant in patients with nasal polyps, in which much higher concentrations were found, than in healthy subjects. Ratios of immunoglobulin to total protein were independent of the amount of secretion obtained. Compared to the controls, the ratios of IgM and IgG to protein in the secretions of the patients were significantly increased. The secretory immunoglobulin A to total protein ratios were only slightly higher in the patients' secretions.

We describe a fast, simple and sensitive microtiter scale competitive ELISA for the determination of urinary albumin. All reagents are commercially available. In the standard procedure, a minimum concentration of 0.8 mg albumin/L can be measured, although, applying another dilution, 0.04 mg/L can be detected. Within-batch coefficient of variation was 6.9% and 5.6% (at 1:20 and 1:50 dilution, respectively); between-batch variation was 8.6% and 5.6% respectively. The influence of urine pH and other urine components is minimised in the assay diluting with a casein-containing buffer.