Recent developments for SPIE-IA, a new sandwich immunoassay format for very small molecules.

Recent publications describing new elegant approaches to assay small analytes using noncompetitive format were briefly reviewed. Among these methods, we have developed a new protocol, named SPIE-IA, which involves a cross-linking step achieved using chemical hombifunctional reagents, UV irradiation or free radicals. This new method proved to be useful to detect naturally occurring analyte/antibody complexes or to protect the analytes against degradation by peptidases. On the other hand, SPIE-IA could allow to study the adverse biological effects of UV and some aspects of free radical chemistry or to evaluate the antioxidant activity of molecules.