Clinical Diagnostic Immunology

R M Nakamura, J D Folds

This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, one-volume guide to protocols in the immunology lab available anywhere. Carefully edited by two of the leading clinical and laboratory immunologists in the world, with concise chapters by sixty-nine experts in their respective subspecialties, this book serves as both a useful reference and a practical manual of laboratory protocols. Published under the auspices of the Americal Medical Laboratory Immunologists, Clinical Diagnosis Immunology is designed to be useful in the day to day work of all medical laboratory professionals. It is an indispensable new tool for the modern medical lab, destined to become the standard reference/text in the field.

SECTION I: CURRENT AND FUTURE ROLE OF THE CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY LABORATORY: 1. What is Clinical and Laboratory Immunology? 2. The Anatomy and Organization of a Modern Clinical Immunology Laboratory 3. CLIA '88 and Impact on the Immunology Laboratory 4. Clinical Immunology Laboratory of the Future 5. Impact of Health Care Revolution and Future Role of the Clinical Immunology Laboratory SECTION II: PRESENT CONCEPTS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA), QUALITY CONTROL (QC), AND STANDARDIZATION: 6. Principles of Quality Assurance and Quality Control in the Clinical Immunology Laboratory 7. National and International Reference Preparations for the Clinical Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory 8. Proficiency Testing Surveys in Clinical Diagnostic Immunology 9. Method Validation and Verification for High Complexity, and In-House (Home Brew) Diagnostic Immunology Tests 10. Improvement of Effectiveness of Immunologic Tests SECTION III: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR QA, QC AND STANDARDIZATION OF HUMORAL ANALYTES: 11. Quantitative, Electrophoretic and Immunochemical Characterization of Immunoglobulins and Serum Proteins 12. Quality Control in the Complement Laboratory 13. Cryoglobulins and Immune Complexes 14. Cytokines, Growth Factors and Adhesion Molecules SECTION IV: QA, QC AND STANDARDIZATION IN CELLULAR AND TISSUE ASSAYS: 15. Cellular Immune Function Tests 16. Cytokine Receptors 17. Flow Cytometry: DNA Ploidy and Cell Cycle Analysis 18. Tissue Immunofluorescence Microscopy 19. Immunochemistry Quality Assurance 20. Image Analysis of Tissue SECTION V: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE AND STANDARDIZATION OF LABORATORY PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION OF DISEASES MEDIATED BY IMMUNE MECHANISMS: 21. Assessment of Immune Deficiency Diseases 22. Systemic Rheumatic Diseases 23. Rheumatoid Arthritis and Rheumatoid Factor 24. Autoimmune Endocrine and Gastric Diseases 25. Autoimmune Markers of Type I Diabetes Mellitus 26. Autoimmune Liver Disease 27. Autoimmune Neuropathies 28. Anti Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies in Vascular Inflammatory Diseases 29. Standardized Anticardiolipin Testing 30. Quality Assurance and Standardization in the Diagnostic Allergy Laboratory 31. Histocompatibility Assays in Transplantation 32. Serologic Assays for Tumor 33. Cellular Assays for the Evalution of Human Tumors SECTION VI: QA, WC AND STANDARDIZATION FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES 34. Human Immunodeficiency Virus 35. Syphilis 36. The Laboratory's Role in the Diagnosis of Lyme Disease 37. Pneumococcal Serotype Assays 38. Hepatitis A, B, C 39. Rubella 40. Epstein Barr-Virus and Mononucleosis-Like Illnesses 41. Herpes, Varicella, Cytomegalovirus SECTION VII: QA, QC AND STANDARDIZATION OF MOLECULAR NUCLEOTIDE ASSAYS: 42. Organization and Structure of a Modern Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory 43. Molecular Oncology 44. In Situ Hybridization 45. Parentage and HLA Testing Using DNA Polymorphisms 46. Molecular Assays for Genetic Diseases 47. Molecular Assays for Infectious Diseases 48. Quality Assurance in Forensic DNA Testing