title: Developing improved immunoassays for paralytic shellfish toxins: the need for multiple, superior antibodies.
abstract: Paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) are a risk to humans upon consumption of contaminated seafood. The PST family is comprised of more than twenty congeners, with each form having a different potency. In order to adequately protect consumers yet reduce unnecessary closures of non-contaminated harvesting areas, a rapid method that allows for analysis of sample toxicity is needed. While a number of PST immunoassays exist, the outstanding challenge is linking quantitative response to sample toxicity, as no single antibody reacts to the PST congeners in a manner that correlates with potency. A novel approach, then, is to combine multiple antibodies of varying reactivity to create a screening assay. This research details our investigation of three currently available antibodies for their reactivity profiles determined using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor assay. While our study shows challenges with detection of the R1-hydroxylated PSTs, results indicate that using multiple antibodies may provide more confidence in determining overall toxicity and the toxin profile. A multiplexed approach would not only improve biosensor assays but could also be applied to lateral flow immuno-chromatographic platforms, and such a theoretical device incorporating the three antibodies is presented. These improved assays could reduce the number of animal bioassays and confirmatory analyses (e.g., LC/MS), thereby improving food safety and economic use of shellfish resources.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740, USA. betsy.yakes@fda.hhs.gov
authors.forename: Betsy Jean
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Yakes
authors.forename: Samantha M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Prezioso
authors.forename: Stacey L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: DeGrasse
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000633:toxicity; D012530:Saxitoxin / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology / Q000633:toxicity; D012758:Shellfish / Q000382:microbiology*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D008387:Marine Toxins; D012530:Saxitoxin