Tandem chromatographic-immunological analyses

The function of conventional immuno-logical assays is to determine the presence and amount of known substances. Cross-reactivity of antibodies with unknown species of similar structure is a problem that can be circumvented by using chromatography in a second level of discrimination. Tandem LC-IA systems increase the selectivity and the sensitivity of assays by removing interfering species. For cases in which the goal is to prove that similar species are absent from a sample or to identify antigen variants, conventional assays fail. LC-IA systems are adept at dealing with these tasks. The necessary steps of metering reagents, separating Ag:Ab complex from other species, and enhancing detection in an immunological assay are easily accommodated by the LC system. In fact, the LC system provides a wide variety of new, high-sensitivity, high-speed methods for carrying out immunological assays. On the basis of the enormous versatility, selectivity, and sensitivity that LC-IA brings to analytical chemistry, we believe this technique will become increasingly important for monitoring analytes in complex biological matrices.