Enzyme immunoassay of albumin as an aid to the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis in the newborn human [proceedings].

One of the symptoms of cystic fibrosis (mucoviscidosis) is pancreatic insufficiency. The 
reduced proteolytic activity in the gut of children with the disease 
results in an elevated concentration of protein, especially serum albumin, in 
the meconium. This feature is used in the diagnosis of the 
disease in the newborn, and we decided to examine the utility 
of enzyme immunoassay for the measurement of albumin in meconium samples 
from normal and cystic fibrosis infants. Normal samples were found to 
have apparent albumin concentrations in the range 0.05-0.26 mg/g dry wt., 
whereas cystic fibrosis samples had concentrations in the range 60-230 mg/g 
dry wt. The assay provides a cheap and relatively rapid method 
of differentiating cystic fibrosis positive and negative meconium samples. 