Enzyme-conjugated antibodies

Figure 2 Immobilized antigen ELISA format. Antigen is immobilized to a solid phase by passive adsorption. Following removal of unbound antigen, analyte (free H) and antigen (H-protein) compete for a fixed number of primary antibody (Y) binding sites. Unbound materials are removed (dotted line). Secondary antibody-enzyme conjugate (Y-E) is added to bind to primary antibody followed by another wash step. Substrate (A) for the enzyme is added to detect the bound enzyme. The amount of colored product ( ) detected is inversely proportional to the amount of analyte present...

The following protocol represents a generalized method for protein thiolation using SATA. For comparison purposes, contrast the variation of this SATA modification method as outlined in Chapter 20, Section 1.1 for use in the preparation of antibody-enzyme conjugates. 

SMCC frequently is used to prepare hapten-carrier or antibody-enzyme conjugates. In both applications, one of the molecules is activated (usually the carrier or the enzyme) with the... 

The following protocol illustrates the use of SIAB in preparing antibody-enzyme conjugates using P-galactosidase. 

The major enzymes used in ELISA technology include horseradish peroxidase (HRP), alkaline phosphatase (AP), (3-galactosidase (P-gal), and glucose oxidase (GO). See Chapter 26 for a detailed description of enzyme properties and activities. HRP is by far the most popular enzyme used in antibody-enzyme conjugates. One survey of enzyme use stated that HRP is incorporated in about 80 percent of all antibody conjugates, most of them utilized in diagnostic assay systems. 

AP is the second most popular choice for antibody-enzyme conjugation, being used in almost 20 percent of all commercial enzyme-linked assays. Although P-gal and GO are used frequendy in research and cited numerous times in the literature, their utilization for commercial ELISA applications represents less than 1 percent of the total assays available. 

The following sections describe the most common chemistries used to create antibody-enzyme conjugates. 

Antibody-enzyme conjugate formation through thioether bond... 

Glutaraldehyde was one of the first and still is one of the most commonly used crosslinking agents available for creating antibody-enzyme conjugates. The crosslinking process using... 

Removal of Unconjugated Enzyme from Antibody-Enzyme Conjugates... 

Elution of the bound antibody-enzyme conjugate occurs by only a slight shift in pH to acidic conditions or through the inclusion of a metal-chelating agent like EDTA or imidazole in the binding buffer. Either method of elution is mild compared to most immunoaffinity separation techniques (discussed in the previous section). Thus, purification of the antibody-enzyme complex can be done without damage to the activity of either component. 

One limitation to this method should be noted. If the antibody-enzyme conjugate is prepared using antibody fragments such as Fab or F(ab )2, then nickel-chelate affinity chromatography will not work, since the requisite Fc portion of the antibody necessary for complexing with the metal is not present. 

Figure 20.15 An affinity chromatography support containing iminodiacetic acid groups chelated with nickel may be used to remove excess enzyme after reactions to produce antibody-enzyme conjugates. The nickel chelate binds to the antibody in the Fc region, retaining the conjugate while allowing free enzyme to pass through the gel unretarded.

Perhaps the most common conjugates of (strept)avidin involve attaching enzyme molecules for use in ELISA systems. As in the case of antibody-enzyme conjugation schemes (Chapter 20), by far the most commonly used enzymes for this purpose are HRP and alkaline phosphatase. Other enzymes such as (3-galactosidase and glucose oxidase are used less often, especially with regard to assay tests for clinically important analytes (Chapter 26). 

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