Determination of the amount of hLH core fragment in a sample from a subject and uses thereof

Throughout this application, various publications are referenced by author and date. Full citations for these publications may be found listed alphabetically at the end of the specification immediately preceding the the claims. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art as known to those skilled therein as of the date of the invention described and claimed herein. The present invention provides a method for predicting the likely timing of the onset of menopause for a perimenopausal female subject by determining the amount of hLH cf in a sample from the subject comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a sample from the subject with an antibody which specifically binds to hLH cf without substantially cross-reacting with hLH, hLH or hLH cf, under conditions permitting formation of a complex between the antibody and hLH cf; (b) measuring the amount of complex formed, so as to thereby determine the amount of hLH cf in the sample; and (c) comprising the amount of hLH cf in the subject's sample determined in step (b) with either (i) the amount determined for known postmenopausal female subject or (ii) the amount determined for a sample from a known premenopausal female subject, wherein an amount of hLH cf in the sample similar to the amount of hLH cf in the known postmenopausal sample indicates temporal proximity to the onset of menopause, and an amount of hLH cf in the sample similar to the amount of hLH cf in the known premenopausal sample indicates temporal distance from the onset of menopause for the subject. AS described herein amount is both concentration and pattern of measurement of concentrations in one or more consecutive urine specimens.