Effect of antibody immobilization strategies on the analytical performance of a surface plasmon resonance-based immunoassay.

Antibody immobilization strategies (random, covalent, orientated and combinations of each) were examined to determine their performance in a surface plasmon resonance-based immunoassay using human fetuin A (HFA) as the model antigen system. The random antibody immobilization strategy selected was based on passive adsorption of anti-HFA antibody on 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-functionalized gold (Au) chips. The covalent strategy employed covalent crosslinking of anti-HFA antibody on APTES-functionalized chips using 1-ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide (EDC) and sulfo-N-hydroxysuccinimide (SNHS). The orientation strategy used passive adsorption of protein A (PrA) on Au chips, with subsequent binding of the anti-HFA antibody in an orientated fashion via its fragment crystallisable (Fc) region. In the covalent-orientated strategy, PrA was first bound covalently, to the surface, which in turn, then binds the anti-HFA antibody in an orientated manner. Finally, in the most widely used strategy, covalent binding of anti-HFA antibody to carboxymethyldextran (CM5-dextran) was employed. This immobilization strategy gave the highest anti-HFA antibody immobilization density, whereas the highest HFA response was obtained with the covalent-orientated immobilization strategy. Therefore, the covalent-orientated strategy was the best for SPR-based HFA immunoassay and can detect 0.6-20.0 ng/mL of HFA in less than 10 min.

Interference of N-hydroxysuccinimide with bicinchoninic acid protein assay.

We report here substantial interference from N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) in the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay. NHS is one of the most commonly used crosslinking agents in bioanalytical sciences, which can lead to serious potential errors in the BCA protein assay based protein estimation if it is present in the protein analyte solution. It was identified to be a reducing substance, which interferes with the BCA protein assay by reducing Cu(2+) in the BCA working reagent. The absorbance peak and absorbance signal of NHS were very similar to those of bovine serum albumin (BSA), thereby indicating a similar BCA reaction mechanism for NHS and protein. However, the combined absorbance of NHS and BSA was not additive. The time-response measurements of the BCA protein assay showed consistent single-phase kinetics for NHS and gradually decreasing kinetics for BSA. The error in protein estimation due to the presence of NHS was counteracted effectively by plotting additional BCA standard curve for BSA with a fixed concentration of NHS. The difference between the absorbance values of BSA and BSA with a fixed NHS concentration provided the absorbance contributed by NHS, which was then subtracted from the total absorbance of analyte sample to determine the actual absorbance of protein in the analyte sample.

Multisubstrate-compatible ELISA procedures for rapid and high-sensitivity immunoassays.

This protocol describes an improved and optimized approach to develop rapid and high-sensitivity ELISAs by covalently immobilizing antibody on chemically modified polymeric surfaces. The method involves initial surface activation with KOH and an O(2) plasma, and then amine functionalization with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The second step requires covalent antibody immobilization on the aminated surface, followed by ELISA. The ELISA procedure developed is 16-fold more sensitive than established methods. This protocol could be used generally as a quantitative analytical approach to perform high-sensitivity and rapid assays in clinical situations, and would provide a faster approach to screen phage-displayed libraries in antibody development facilities. The antibody immobilization procedure is of ∼3 h duration and facilitates rapid ELISAs. This method can be used to perform assays on a wide range of commercially relevant solid support matrices (including those that are chemically inert) with various biosensor formats.

Development of a high sensitivity rapid sandwich ELISA procedure and its comparison with the conventional approach.

A highly sensitive and rapid sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedure was developed for the detection of human fetuin A/AHSG (alpha2-HS-glycoprotein), a specific biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma and atherosclerosis. Anti-human fetuin A antibody was immobilized on aminopropyltriethoxysilane-mediated amine-functionalized microtiter plates using 1-ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide hydrochloride and N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide-based heterobifunctional cross-linking. The analytical sensitivity of the developed assay was 39 pg/mL, compared to 625 pg/mL for the conventional assay. The generic nature of the developed procedure was demonstrated by performing human fetuin A assays on different polymeric matrixes, i.e., polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), and polycyclo-olefin (Zeonex), in a modified microtiter plate format. Thus, the newly developed procedure has considerable advantages over the existing method.