Rapid Test for Sjögren’s Syndrome

A team of NIDCR scientists reported in August that an experimental laboratory test called LIPS had correctly identified a key antibody associated with primary Sjögren’s syndrome three out of four times and with perfect accuracy. These data represented a significant improvement over the sensitivity and specificity of today’s standard ELISA assays. Now, the scientists report in the October issue of the Journal of Translational Medicine that this two-hour test just got a whole lot quicker. The scientists streamlined the assay’s two one-hour incubation steps to five minutes each. As the author’s reported, their quicker technique called QLIPS “includes a 5 minute set-up, two five-minute incubation steps, 10 minutes of washing and reading of the [testing] plate with a luminometer” for the results. Total testing time: About 25 minutes. Today’s ELISA tests typically range from five hours to a day to complete.

For complete article: http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/Research/ResearchResults/ScienceBriefs/Archive/SNIB2009/October/LIPS.htm