Western Blot

Understanding the Western Blot

Inquiries about various issues relating to Western blot (WB) testing are frequently posted to the Lyme disease discussion groups on the Internet. Among the most commonly asked questions are: What laboratory techniques are used to carry out the assay? What exactly is being measured? What is a “band”? How are the results interpreted? What are the CDC criteria for a “positive” test? Although some ...

The fallibility of HIV western blot.

Western blot profile in HIV infection.

BACKGROUND Although the overall sensitivity and specificity of the western blot (WB) test for detection of antibodies to various viral proteins is high, there has been a substantial difference in the timing of the appearance of antibody bands and their intensities during different stages of HIV infection. AIMS Mapping different band patterns of Western blot results and correlating them with s...

Western blot analysis in patients with hypocaeruloplasminaemia.

Inherited copper toxic disease, Wilson's disease, is an autosomal recessive disorder arising from a defect in biliary copper excretion. Although there are several pathognomonic clinical features, such a multisystem disease can be difficult to diagnose, particularly in the early stages of copper toxicity. Even measurements of serum copper and caeruloplasmin, the major copper-transporting protein...

Studying protein-protein interactions via blot overlay or Far Western blot.

Blot overlay is a useful method for studying protein-protein interactions. This technique involves fractionating proteins on SDS-PAGE, blotting to nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane, and then incubating with a probe of interest. The probe is typically a protein that is radiolabeled, biotinylated, or simply visualized with a specific antibody. When the probe is visualized via antibody detection, th...