Modified rosette inhibition test with mouse lymphocytes for detection of early pregnancy factor in human pregnancy serum.

The rosette inhibition test has been modified so that early pregnancy factor (EPF) in human pregnancy serum can be detected with mouse lymphocytes. Interference with the assay, which would result from incubation of lymphocytes with heterologous serum proteins, is prevented by the introduction of an ion exchange chromatography step. This provides a simple and rapid method for separating EPF from interfering serum proteins. Human pregnancy and non-pregnancy sera were assayed for EPF with human lymphocytes and results compared with those obtained with DEAE-Sephacel fractions of the same sera tested with mouse lymphocytes. The 2 systems showed good agreement but the mouse assay gave greater differentiation between positive and negative results. When monoclonal anti-T cell antibodies, Hu Ly-m1 and anti-Ly-1.1, were substituted for anti-lymphocyte sera in the human and mouse assay systems respectively, similar results were obtained. The mouse assay system has several advantages over the human assay, including stability of the anti-mouse lymphocyte serum and the ready availability of mouse lymphocytes. Moreover the modified method may be applied not only to the assay of human EPF, but also to the assay of EPF from other species. This would be of value if several species were being studied in 1 laboratory, or if sufficient quantities of lymphocytes from a particular species were not available.