Comparison of statistical cluster methods in electrophoretic protein pattern analysis.

Standard electrophoresis methods were used in the qualitative and quantitative protein analyses of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Disc electrophoresis was carried out for detection of oligoclonal IgG bands in cerebrospinal fluid on polyacrylamide gel. Pairs of CSF and serum were taken from 30 patients, mainly with multiple sclerosis and other central nervous system dysfunctions, polyradiculoneuritis, known as Guillain-Barre syndrome, encephalitis, paraproteinemia, and analyzed. ImageMaster 1D Elite and GelPro specialized software packages were used for fast accurate image and gel analysis. The results obtained from different hierarchic cluster analysis methods were compared. In some cases, despite substantial similarities between electropherograms, different cluster methods produced different dendrograms. Therefore, the cluster analysis should be used cautiously. It offers only additional diagnostic information on the inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system.