an immunologic method has been devised enabling diagnosis of patients with cystic fibrosis , as well as asymptomatic carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene . mono - specific antibody to cystic fibrosis protein is inserted into a first position on an electrophoresis plate . a body fluid from the subject to be tested is placed into a second position on the plate . an electrical potential is imposed across the positions with the anode being adjacent to the section containing the serum and the cathode being adjacent to the section containing the antibody . the presence of cystic fibrosis protein is indicated by one or more precipitation zones forming where the body fluid proteins meet the antibody due to movement induced by an applied electrical potential . the relative position of the precipitation zone between the first and second positions , or the area of the precipitation zone , indicates a concentration of the cystic fibrosis protein . methods for producing the purified cystic fibrosis protein antibody and for purifying the cystic fibrosis protein itself are also disclosed .