Lipid peroxidation and 5-lipoxygenase activity in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease subjects1

A method for potentiating the activity of tissue plasminogen activator proteins by adding certain amounts of beta-lactoglobulin A is claimed. In particular, the invention includes an enhanced solid-phase immunoassay for measuring tissue plasminogen activator (nt-PA) activity in a mammalian serum sample with sufficient sensitivity to detect neutralizing activity in samples containing mu g/ml levels of total nt-PA antibody. Neutralizing activity can be easily detected in serum dilutions containing as little as 0.038 to 0.48 mu g of total nt-PA antibody in a 20 mu l sample. The assay has a sensitivity of 1 pM of nt-PA (67 pg/ml) in 5 hr.