Method of evaluation of the relative risk of developing atherosclerosis in patients

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for determining the amount of circulating CD36 protein or a fraction thereof which is present in cell-free plasma, preferably in a high molecular weight plasma fraction, such as a lipoprotein fraction selected from Low Density Lipoprotein, Intermediate Density Lipoprotein, and Very Low Density Lipoprotein using an immunological method which comprises the steps of (i) providing a plasma sample to be investigated, (ii) providing an anti-CD36 antibody, (iii) exposing the sample to be investigated to the antibody, and (iv) detecting and quantifying the amount of CD36 which binds to the antibody.

主权项

1. A method of predicting an increased risk of a patient developing a disease state where said disease state belongs to the group of diseases consisting of atherosclerosis, atherothrombosis, microangiopathy, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, insulin resistance, diabetes, and combinations thereof, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
(a) obtaining a cell-free plasma sample from said patient, the cell-free plasma sample comprising a lipoprotein fraction in or in addition to high molecular weight complexes capable of being disrupted by freezing and thawing the sample; (b) contacting the sample with an anti-CD36 antibody to obtain a CD36-antibody complex, wherein said anti-CD36 antibody is selected from the group of antibodies consisting of monoclonal anti-human CD36 antibody sc-7309, rabbit polyclonal antibodies specific for amino acids 1-300 of human CD36, and goat polyclonal antibodies specific for an N-terminal peptide of human CD36; (c) incubating said sample with said antibody to obtain a CD36-antibody complex; (d) contacting said complex with a labelled compound having specific binding affinity for said complex; (e) detecting labelled compound bound to said complex, whereby an amount of CD36 protein present in said cell-free plasma sample comprising high molecular weight complexes is measured as indicative of a level of circulating CD36 in the patient; and (f) determining whether the CD36 level measured in step (e) is above a reference level determined from healthy subjects, an increased level of circulating CD36 in said patient above the reference level from the healthy subjects being predictive of an increased risk of the patient developing said disease state.