Microfluorometric demonstration of thyroglobulin antibodies with the defined antigen substrate spheres (DASS) system

: Previous investigations showed that quantitative immunofluorescence using antigens covalently bound to agarose particles represents a reproducible and sensitive assay for antibodies in experimental antisera. In this paper data are presented which show that also thyroglobulin antibodies in patients sera can be demonstrated using the defined antigen substrate spheres (DASS) system with thyroglobulin as antigen. Sera of 45 patients with various thyroid diseases were investigated for the presence of thyroglobulin antibodies using passive haemagglutination and the quantitative immunofluorescence technique. Comparable results were obtained with both techniques. Advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed.