Patent ID: 8722339

Claim:
A method of detecting a disease state or disease susceptibility in a mammalian subject, comprising detecting an antibody in a bodily fluid test sample from the subject wherein the antibody is a biological marker of a disease state or disease susceptibility and wherein it is not known whether the test sample comprises the antibody, the method comprising: (a) contacting the test sample with a plurality of different amounts of an antigen specific for the antibody, (b) detecting the amount of specific binding between the antibody and the antigen, (c) plotting or calculating a curve of the amount of specific binding versus the amount of antigen for each amount of antigen used in step (a), and (d) comparing the curve of the test sample with a control sample curve, wherein a difference in the test sample curve when compared with the control sample curve indicates the presence of a disease state or susceptibility in the subject.