title: Pitfalls in the use of ELISA to screen for monoclonal antibodies raised against small peptides.
abstract: Small peptides are often conjugated to large carrier proteins such as thyroglobulin to increase their immunogenicity. Antibodies are raised against peptide, thyroglobulin and contaminants, such as immunoglobulins or BSA in the thyroglobulin preparation, but anti-contaminant antibodies will not be revealed if immune serum is diluted in buffer containing immunoglobulin-contaminated BSA. This may lead to the development of an inappropriate hybridoma-screening assay which detects more anti-contaminant than anti-peptide antibodies if ELISA plates are coated with a capture antibody or blocked with BSA. Dilution of culture supernatants in buffer containing BSA and Tween 20 minimises the risk of false positive results and makes plate-blocking unnecessary. The high affinity peptide-specific antibodies in immune serum, which are more readily detected than lower affinity monoclonal antibodies, may result in an inadequately sensitive hybridoma-screening ELISA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McIntosh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: James
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000032:analysis*; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000276:immunology*; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000592:standards*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006825:Hybridomas / Q000276:immunology; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007106:Immune Sera; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin; D013954:Thyroglobulin