MEASUREMENT OF THYROID-STIMULATING IMMUNOGLOBULINS IN A NEW CELL-LINE TRANSFECTED WITH A FUNCTIONAL HUMAN TSH RECEPTOR (JPO9 CELLS), COMPARED WITH AN ASSAY USING FRTL-5 CELLS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Most bioassays used to measure thyroid stimulating antibodies (TSAb) rely on the ability of patient sera to generate cAMP in cultured cells of non-human origin. The cell line most commonly used has been the rat thyroid cell line, FRTL-5. Recently, a new cell line (JPO9) possessing a transfected human TSH receptor has been developed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the JPO9 cells by comparing them with the widely used FRTL-5 cells, using the method of 3H-adenine incorporation for the direct measurement of intracellular cAMP. DESIGN: The ability of patient sera to generate cAMP production in JPO9 and FRTL-5 cells was used as the index of thyroid stimulation. The specificity of..