title: Development of a haptoglobin ELISA. Its use as an indicator for malaria.
abstract: Hypo- or ahaptoglobinemia, a common phenomenon in tropical countries, is mainly due to malaria induced hemolysis. We have recently shown that the prevalence of hypohaptoglobinemia is a useful epidemiologic indicator in malaria endemic areas. The main limitation to the practical utilisation of this indicator is the available methodologies. Here we describe a sandwich ELISA for the determination of haptoglobin concentrations which is easy to perform, sensitive and requires a minimal amount of equipment. With this test system it is possible to detect haptoglobin in serum at a lower limit of 100 micrograms/ml for 10(-4) dilutions and of less than 1 micrograms/ml for 10(-2) dilutions. This represents at least 200 fold increase in sensitivity as compared to radial immunodiffusion.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Cantonal University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yerly
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouvier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rougemont
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Perrin
mesh_terms: D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006242:Haptoglobins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000172:deficiency; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
chemical_list: D006242:Haptoglobins