Detection of antibodies to the 20s proteasome by ELISA.

The presence of antibodies against the 20S proteasome has been correlated with diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) but no definite association has been established. In order to investigate this further, we optimized an ELISA for proteasome antibodies and applied it to test a total of 324 serum and plasma samples from MS patients, SLE patients, and healthy controls. Our results yield a functional and reliable assay but no correlation between the amount of proteasome antibodies present and the development of MS or SLE could be established.