Development and optimization of an in-house heterologous ELISA for detection of prednisolone drug in enzyme conjugates using spacers

The introduction of spacers in coating steroid protein complexes and/or enzyme conjugates or immunogens is known to exert an influence on the sensitivity of steroid enzyme immunoassays. We investigated the impact of different homobifunctional spacers, ranging in atomic length from 3 to 10, on the sensitivity and specificity of prednisolone (PSL) enzyme immunoassays. In this study, four homo-bifunctional spacers, namely, carbohydrazide (CH), adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH), ethylene diamine (EDA), and urea (U), were incorporated between PSL and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for preparing the enzyme conjugate with an aim to improve the sensitivity of the assay without compromising assay specificity. The assays were developed using these enzymes conjugated with antibodies raised against the PSL-21-HS-BSA immunogen. The sensitivity of the PSL assays after insertion of a bridge in the enzyme conjugate was 1.22 ng/mL, 0.59 ng/mL, 0.48 ng/mL, and 0.018 ng/mL with ADH, CH, EDA, and urea as a spacer, respectively. Among the four combinations, the PSL-21-HS-BSA-antibody with PSL-21-HS-U-HRP-enzyme conjugate gave better sensitivity and less cross-reaction. The percent recovery of PSL from the exogenously spiked human serum pools was in the range of 88.32%-102.50%. The intra and inter-assay CV% was< 8.46%. The PSL concentration was estimated in the serum samples of patients on PSL treatment. The serum PSL values obtained by this method correlated well with the commercially available kit (r2 = 0.98). The present study suggests that the nature of the spacer is related to assay sensitivity and not the spacer length

Deciphering a Conformation-Specific Epitope of hCG-Through Immunokinetics

Proteins and peptides are comprised of both sequence-specific and conformation-specific epitopes. Sequence-specific epitopes are delineated by a peptide approach and other robust methods like competition assays, gene expression assays, synthetic peptide library based assays, etc. Available methods for deciphering conformation-specific epitopes are cumbersome (X-ray crystallography, etc.), time-consuming, and require expensive equipment. Therefore, it is indispensable to develop a simple method for identification and mapping of conformation-specific epitopes. In the present investigation, the radiolabeled human chorionic gonadotropin- (125IhCG) was employed as a probe and nitrocellulose (NC) as a solid support to immobilize monoclonal antibody (MAb) G1G10.1. The NC-G1G10.1-125IhCG complex (NCcom) was prepared and the dissociation of radiolabeled hCG was carried out in the presence of excess unlabeled ligate. From the experimental dissociation data under varying ionic strength, dissociation constants (k-1), association constants (k+1), and affinity constants (ka) were calculated. The values obtained were utilized in exploring the amino acid residues constituting an epitopic region of hCG involved in interaction with the complementary paratope on MAb G1G10.1. Kinetic data of the present study supported our recently published findings [using single step-solid phase radioimmunoassay (SS-SPRIA)] that the core region of a conformation-specific epitope of hCG consists of Arg (94, 95) and Asp (99) while a Lys (104) and a His (106) are in proximity to the core epitopic region. Therefore, the results of the present investigation suggested that the dissociation kinetics coupled with SS-SPRIA unequivocally assists in deciphering amino acid residues constituting a conformation-specific epitope of hC

Kinetic analysis of a human chorionic gonadotropin- epitope-paratope interaction

Kinetics of protein-protein or ligand-ligate interaction has predominantly been studied by optical spectroscopy (particularly fluorescence) and surface plasmon resonance biosensors. Almost all such studies are based on association kinetics between ligand-ligate and suffer from certain methodological and interpretational limitations. Therefore, kinetic analyses of dissociation data of such interactions become indispensable. In the present investigation, the radiolabeled human chorionic gonadotropin- (125IhCG) was employed as a probe and nitrocellulose (NC) as a solid support to immobilize monoclonal antibody (MAb) G1G10.1. The NC-G1G10.1-125IhCG complex (NCcom) was prepared and the dissociation of radiolabeled hCG was carried out in the presence of excess unlabeled ligate. From the experimental dissociation data under varying ionic strength, dissociation constants (k-1), association constants (k+1) and affinity constants (ka) were calculated. The values obtained were utilized in exploring the amino acid residues constituting an epitopic region of hCG involved in interaction with the complementary paratope on MAb G1G10.1. Kinetic data of the present study supported our recently published findings [using single step-solid phase radioimmunoassay (SS-SPRIA)] that the core region of hCG epitope consists of Arg (94,95) and Asp (99) while a Lys (104) and a His (106) are in proximity to the core epitopic region. Based on the results of present investigation, we conclude that dissociation kinetics coupled with SS-SPRIA unequivocally provides considerable insight into the study of ligand-ligate interactions and epitope analysis