Unlabeled antibody detection

Multi-step technique (3) This is an indirect/direct method combining unlabeled primary antibodies with directly-conjugated antibodies. The method starts with staining the unlabeled antibody/antibodies with the appropriate detection system, but without performing the final enzymatic staining reaction. The tissue is blocked with normal serum from the host of the first primary antibody before the second, directly-labeled primary antibody is added. The staining ends with the two enzymatic reactions being performed sequentially. 

The first two steps of the PAP method are similar to those of the original unlabeled antibody-enzyme method. In the following step, PAP (40 pg/ml in buffer containing 1% normal serum from the same species as the bridging antibody) is applied to the preparation, followed by the revelation of POase. Detectability can be increased by a double bridge procedure after the last incubation step, another incubation with bridging antibody (anti-Ig) and with soluble PAP is carried out at the same concentrations as above. 

The protocol for double/multiple immunolabeling using haptenylated primary antibodies is essentially the same as with primary antibodies of different IgG isotypes. These protocols can be easily customized depending on the availability of primary antibodies for your research requirements. For instance, you may have at your disposal a pair of monoclonal antibodies of the same IgG isotype, and only one of them is haptenylated. In this case, you have to carry out the immunostaining in two steps in the first step you visualize the unlabeled first primary antibody with a secondary species-specific antibody, and in the second step you can detect the second primary haptenylated antibody via another secondary antibody directed against the corresponding hapten. Should the hapten be a fluorophore, it can be visualized directly in a fluorescent microscope and you do not need the second step... 

The dissociation constant (Kd) of a monoclonal antibody with fluorescein isothiocyanate- (FITC)-labeled insulin and unlabeled insulins from several species were measured using CE with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) (9). Kd determinations were made by separating free FITC-labeled insulin and its complex with the antibody in equilibrated solutions in 6 s or less (Fig. 3). Dissociation and association rates for insulin, FITC-insulin, and the antibody are fast enough to reach equilibria in less... 

For ELISA, an enzyme is linked chemically to the antibody. The labeled antibody is allowed to bind to the unlabeled antigen, under conditions where nonspecific adsorption is blocked, and any unbound antibody and other proteins are washed away. Binding is detected by a reaction that converts a colorless substrate into a colored reaction product. The color change can be read directly in the reaction tray, making data collection very easy, and ELISA also avoids the hazards of radioactivity. This makes ELISA the preferred method for most direct-binding assays (Plested et al. 2003). 

In 1982, the first enzyme immunoassay of clenbuterol was described (134). It was used to determine clenbuterol levels in plasma of human patients treated by oral route with this drug. It was a highly sensitive double-antibody and heterologous immunoassay based on a competition for binding to a clenbuterol-specific antibody between a diazotized clenbuterol analogue labeled with -galactosidase and unlabeled standard or sample clenbuterol. The antibody-bound enzyme hapten was separated from free hapten by anti-rabbit IgG immobilized to a polystyrene ball. The assay could detect levels as low as 0.5 pg clenbuterol per tube. 

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