Fig. 1

DNA and protein analyses of Hp alleles and comparison between Western blot and immunoturbidimetry. A Agarose gel displaying pooled results of A-B and C-D PCR reactions for DNA analysis. Hp1 allele is the middle 1757-bp band; Hp2 allele appears at both the top (3482-bp) and bottom (349-bp) bands. B Corresponding Western blot protein bands from same JIA patients. The α1 subunit is approximately ~ 9 kDa. The α2 variant is ~ 18 kDa. Note that the heterozygote blood sample had negligible level of α1 band and the α2 band was comparable to an Hp2 homozygote. C Correlation between Western blot densitometry and clinical chemistry immunoturbidimetry values. Combined Western blot densitometry values (α1 + α2) at higher versus lower disease activity (i.e., JADAS27 score) are plotted against corresponding values from validated immunoturbidimetry used in routine clinical chemistry. Western blot values were normalized against a reference plasma run on all gels, which was a heterozygote with Hp 1.4 g/L