Magnetic particle-linked anti hCG β antibody for immunoassay of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), potential application to early pregnancy diagnosis

The objective of this study was to develop a magnetic particle-linked monoclonal antibody to hCG beta for immunosorbent assay of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) with improved detection sensitivity. Monoclonal antibody against hCG beta was found to be optimally crosslinked to the superparamagnetic particles (SPIO) using EDC and NHS as cross-linking reagents. This superparamagnetic particle-linked monoclonal antibody was able to concentrate hCG from a tested solution for further ELISA assay using horse radish peroxidase-labeled monoclonal antibody against hCG beta. This hybrid technique had greatly decreased the detection limit to 0.1 mIU/mL, making an early detection of pregnancy possible. With an improved sensitivity and simple operation, the magnetic particle-linked anti hCG beta antibody for immunoassay of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has a great potential to supersede the traditional ELISA for pregnancy diagnosis. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.