Patent ID: 8114610

Claim:
A method of detecting amniotic fluid in a sample comprising a vaginal secretion of a pregnant woman using a combination of at least three PAMG-1-specific monoclonal antibodies, the method comprising: (a) contacting said sample with said at least three PAMG-1-specific monoclonal antibodies, wherein at least one antibody of the three has a lower PAMG-1 binding specificity than at least one other antibody of the three; and wherein the binding specificity of each of said three antibodies and specific combination thereof are selected to detect PAMG-1 in the sample when present at least in a predefined threshold amount that is greater than the regular background level of PAMG-1 in vaginal secretions of pregnant women in the absence of amniotic fluid and less than the level present in amniotic fluid; (b) detecting a PAMG-1/antibody complex; and (c) determining that said sample contains amniotic fluid if said PAMG-1/antibody complex is detected in step (b).