What is Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS) where the immune system breaks down the protective myelin sheath that surrounds the nerve fibres in the brain allowing them to be damaged more easily. The severity of nerve damage will determine the level of symptoms that the patient experiences.
In Ireland it is estimated that over 9000 people are living with MS (2018 – MS-society.ie), making it the most common disabling neurological disease to affect young adults in Ireland as it is usually diagnosed between 20 – 40 years old.
How the Sebia Hydrasys 2 Scan Focusing can help..
MS requires multiple clinical and laboratory tests to diagnose due to the complexity of the disease. The gold standard in laboratory testing to confirm a diagnosis of MS is Isoelectric focusing on electrophoresis, which will determine if a patients CSF sample contains proteins (oligoclonal bands) which is unusual in healthy patients (Thompson et al., 2022). 90% of patients with MS will show a protein pattern called oligoclonal bands in their CSF sample (2018 – MS-society.ie).
The international consensus suggests that both patients serum and CSF sample should be analysed to deduce if the oligoclonal bands are due to intrathecal synthesis of IgG or via blood brain barrier diffusion.
The Sebia Hydrasys 2 Scan Focusing is at the forefront of gel electrophoresis for CSF Isofocusing with results being obtained in less than 4 hours. Sebias’ Hydrasys 2 Scan Focusing is a semi-automated instrument which allows for the migration, immunofixation and direct detection of on agarose gel to obtain IgG profiles. The Hydragel CSF isofocusing kit provides qualification detection and immunological characterisation of IgG oligoclonal banding in the CSF and serum sample.
Sebia Hydrasys 2 Scan Focusing – CSF Isofocusing test
The Hydragel CSF Isofocusing test kit is available in gels sizes of six or nine depending on the laboratories need. See below a Hydragel 9 CSF isofocusing gel which each patient has two lanes, the first the CSF sample and the second the serum sample which can easily be compared by eye after staining.
Key benefits of the Sebia Hydragel CSF Isofocusing:
- Simultaneous analysis of patient serum and CSF sample
- Non-concentrated CSF material
- Sensitivity increase of 100 fold compared to standard immunofixations thanks to the detection with enzyme labelled antibodies
- Compliance with the international consensus and meets all the requirements needed to objectively detect CNS local IgG synthesis
- Detection limit 0.31mg/l
MSC provide full installation, training and service support for the Hydrasys 2 Scan focusing and CSF assays. Please get in touch today for further information on how adding gel electrophoresis or expanding the test repertoire can benefit your lab or click ourr range of Sebia products here
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References
- Lo Sasso B, Agnello L, Bivona G, Bellia C, Ciaccio M. Cerebrospinal Fluid Analysis in Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis: An Update. Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 Jun 4;55(6):245. doi: 10.3390/medicina55060245. PMID: 31167509; PMCID: PMC6630948.
- Thompson A.J., Banwell B.L., Barkhof F., Carroll W.M., Coetzee T., Comi G., Correale J., Fazekas F., Filippi M., Freedman M.S., et al. Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis: 2017 revisions of the McDonald criteria. Lancet Neurol. 2018;17:162–173. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30470-2.
