7 Jan 2012

ELISA ( Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ) Competitive ELISA



A third use of ELISA is through competitive binding. The steps for this ELISA are somewhat different than the first two examples:

1.    Unlabeled antibody is incubated in the presence of its antigen (Sample).
2.    These bound antibody/antigen complexes are then added to an antigen-coated well.
3.    The plate is washed, so that unbound antibody is removed. (The more antigen in the sample, the less antibody will be able to bind to the antigen in the well, hence "competition.")
4.    The secondary antibody, specific to the primary antibody is added. This second antibody is coupled to the enzyme.
5.    A substrate is added, and remaining enzymes elicit a chromogenic or fluorescent signal.

(Note that some competitive ELISA kits include enzyme-linked antigen rather than enzyme-linked antibody. The labeled antigen competes for primary antibody binding sites with your sample antigen (unlabeled). The more antigen in the sample the less labeled antigen is retained in the well and the weaker the signal).

It is common that the antigen is not first positioned in the well.

For the detection of HIV antibodies, the wells of microtiter plate are coated with the HIV antigen. Two specific antibodies are used, one conjugated with enzyme and the other present in serum (if serum is positive for the antibody). Competition occurs between the two antibodies for the same antigen. Sera to be tested are added to these wells and incubated at 37 degrees and then washed. If antibodies are present, antigen-antibody reaction occurs. There is no antigen left for the enzyme labelled specific HIV antibodies. These antibodies remain free upon addition and are washed off during washing. Substrate is added but there is no enzyme to act on it, therefore, positive result shows no color change.

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