Based on human Myelin, the anti-MAG ELISA from BÜHLMANN is the most sensitive and specific assay on the market. Mark Kuijf showed in a very recent study involving 68 paients that the anti-MAG ELISA was considerably more sensitive as compared to the Western Blot.
Not only is it possible to measure even very low anti-MAG antibody titers but also to follow titers in patients under new therapies such as Rituximab.

MAG is a constituent of peripheral and central nervous system myelin. High titers of IgM anti-MAG antibodies are associated with sensory motor demyelinating peripheral neuropathy. Sensory symptoms tend to dominate early in disease, with motor symptoms occuring later. The possibility of MAG antibody involvement in a suspected neuropathy may essentually be ruled out if a MAG IgM negative result is obtained. A recent publication suggests (Jaskowski et al. 2008) that detection of MAG IgM antibody by ELISA based on human MAG (100 kD) antigen is significantly more sensitive and specific than MAG Western blot and IFA assays using primate antigen.
Quantitation of anti-MAG antibody titers is an important aspect: on the one hand very low titers (otherwise negative in Western Blots) may be suggestive for a different neuropathy. On the other hand, new therapy concepts based on monoclonal antibodies (e g Rituximab) need a follow-up on anti-MAG antibody titers.

Your advantages with the the anti-MAG ELISA from BÜHLMANN:

Accuracy: Precoated Microtiterplate convenience

Specificity: The use of highly purified human MAG results in best likelihood to detect all positive patients.
Using microtiterplate with extremely low unspecific binding properties
No blocking proteins thus reducing the chance for false positive samples.
Reproducibility: Premeasured standards and two controls ensure low interassay variation.

Standardization: Standard curve with standardized titer units -

Quantitation: Allowing therapy monitoring of therapeutic intervention (e.g. Rituximab)

Product Information

* Multilingual document [EN, DE, FR, IT, ES]