Protection assay acridinium ester probes

Hybridization protection assay with acridinium ester probes... 

Acridinium ester—labeled chemiluminescent probes have been utilized to detect the specific protein-coding transcripts and to distinguish between transcripts that code for the 190-kDa protein and the two closely related 210-kDa proteins. The assay is called the hybridization protection assay (D3). In this assay, RNA isolated from the patient s white blood cells is first amplified by PCR. The amplified product is incubated with the chemiluminescent probe. The unhybridized probe is removed by selective hydrolysis in sodium tetraborate buffer, containing surfactant Triton X-100 at pH 8.5, in an incubation step at 60°C for 6 min. After the sample is cooled to room temperature, the chemiluminescence of the hybridized probe is measured in a luminometer. The procedure is reported to detect one leukemic cell in a population of a million or more normal cells. It is also rapid, requiring less than 30 min. Its reliability has been attested to by correlation with results obtained on karyotypic and Southern blot analysis (D3). 

A luminescent probe detection system called the hybridization protection assay, or HP A, makes use of an acridinium ester-derivatized oligonucleotide that is hybridized to the amplified DNA (02). Unhybridized probe is preferentially... 

The second technique uses a homogeneous assay format with no physical separation between hybridized and nonhybridized probes. The method is the result of a discovery that for a suitably positioned acridinium ester, within an oligonucleotide sequence, hybridization prevents hydrolytic attack on the ester by hydroxide ions. Such hydrolysis would lead to the inactivation of the chemiluminescent label (see Section 3.2.1). This differential susceptibility to hydrolysis forms the basis for a so-called hybridization-protection assay (HPA), which is schematically illustrated in Fig. 30. 

Fig. 30. Schematic illustration of the hybridization protection assay (HPA). The acridinium ester is covalently attached to a DNA probe. Upon hydrolysis of the phenyl ester group, there is no possibility of forming a dioxetaneone intermediate and hence the reaction is dark i.e., there is no light emission. By contrast, chemiluminescence of the hybridized probe (shown in the lower part of the figure) is minimally affected. Adapted from Nelson et at. (N6), with permission.

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