Patent ID: 7727711

Claim:
A method for determining whether a subject contains an antibody in sera against an antigen, wherein said antigen is a combination of separated GroES, GroEL, and RpIL proteins having an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 11, 12, and 14 respectively, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an antigen, wherein said antigen is a combination of separated GroES, GroEL, and RpIL proteins having an amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 11, 12 and 14 respectively; (b) providing a sample from a subject; (c) conducting an immunoassay on said sample utilizing said antigen, wherein said immunoassay detects the presence of antibodies that recognize said combination of GroES, GroEL and RpIL; and (d) determining that the subject contains an antibody against said antigen if the results of the immunoassay indicate that an antibody that recognizes said antigen is present in said sample.