Patent ID: 7189516

Claim:
A method for analyzing the progression of an autoimmune disease associated with autoantibodies in a patient, comprising: exposing a first sample of biological fluid from the patient to a pooled population of particles, wherein at least one first subset of the pooled population of particles is bound to a first reactant that binds an autoantibody and at least one second subset of the pooled population of particles is bound to a second reactant that binds a self antigen; measuring an amount of autoantibody in the first sample of biological fluid; measuring an amount of self-antigen in the first sample of biological fluid; determining a first ratio of the measured amount of autoantibody to the measured amount of self-antigen determining a second ratio of autoantibody to self-antigen in a second sample of biological fluid taken from the same patient as the first sample of biological fluid, wherein the second sample of biological fluid is drawn subsequent to the first sample of biological fluid; and comparing the second ratio to the first ratio to analyze the progression of the autoimmune disease in the patient, wherein the autoimmune disease: has progressed further on condition that the second ratio is greater than the first ratio.