title: Sensitive ELISA for interleukin-6. Detection of IL-6 in biological fluids: synovial fluids and sera.
abstract: A monoclonal antibody and an affinity purified polyclonal antibody, both raised against recombinant human IL-6, have been employed in an ELISA procedure to quantitate human IL-6. Both antibodies were very potent in neutralizing the biological activity of recombinant as well as natural human IL-6. The monoclonal antibody was used as the capture antibody whilst the polyclonal antibody, in biotinylated form, was used as the detecting antibody in combination with a streptavidin horseradish peroxidase conjugate and a signal amplification system. The detection limit for natural as well as recombinant IL-6 was 1 pg/ml. A good correlation was found between the ELISA and the B9 biological assay when IL-6 was measured in crude culture supernatants, in synovial fluids of rheumatoid arthritis patients and in the sera of patients with diverse diseases. Immunoprecipitation of IL-6, produced by different cell types, such as monocytes, endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells or derived from biological fluids, such as the serum of a patient with septic shock or the synovial fluid of a rheumatoid arthritis patient, revealed in every case only molecules in the molecular weight range of 21,000-26,000.
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory of The Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Amsterdam.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Helle
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boeije
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Vos
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aarden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008970:Molecular Weight; D013582:Synovial Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015850:Interleukin-6