PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Ole P Børmer

Publications and source records attributed to Ole P Børmer.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Use of an in vivo biotinylated single-chain antibody as capture reagent in an immunometric assay to decrease the incidence of interference from heterophilic antibodies.

BACKGROUND: Heterophilic antibodies are a common source of interference in immunometric assays. We tested the hypothesis that the incidence of such interference could be decreased by use of a recombinant in vivo-biotinylated single-chain antibody (scFv) as the capture reagent. METHODS: We established three assays for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with the capture antibody either chemically biotinylated whole monoclonal T84.66 immunoglobulin, a corresponding F(ab')2 fragment, or a site-specifically biotinylated T84.66-derived single-chain antibody (scFv). Antibodies were attached to streptavidin-coated microplates. A common europium-labeled anti-CEA tracer monoclonal antibody was used. The F(ab')2 assay used a buffer that contained bovine immunoglobulin and aggregated irrelevant monoclonal antibody MAK33 as blocking agents. The whole T84.66 immunoglobulin and scFv assays were performed without addition of blocking agents. From a previous study of 11 261 sera, we tested 390 samples that had displayed heterophilic antibody interference and 179 samples that had not. RESULTS: After correction for bias and analytical variation [2.56 x SD (from the precision profile)], 383 samples displayed significantly different values (>1 microg/L) in the whole T84.66-based assay and the F(ab')2 assay. In contrast, only nine samples showed falsely high CEA concentrations in the scFv assay. After blocking agents were added to the assay buffer, eight of the nine samples displayed results equivalent to those of the F(ab')2 assay, and sample dilution produced equivalent results for the remaining sample. CONCLUSION: Their ability to be site-specifically biotinylated and their relative resistance to heterophilic antibody interference indicate that single-chain antibodies may be useful solid-phase reagents in immunometric assays.

Animals↗

Human heterophilic antibodies display specificity for murine IgG subclasses.

OBJECTIVES: The study investigated heterophilic antibodies: the human immunoglobulin classes involved and their specificity for different murine IgG subclasses. DESIGN AND METHODS: Using immunofluorometric assays for human IgA, IgM and IgG binding murine IgG1, we analyzed 173 samples displaying positive interference and 97 negative control samples from a previous study. We also set up assays for heterophilic antibody interference using Mabs from different murine IgG subclasses. Three Mabs each of murine IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b subclasses, one murine IgG3 Mab and one rat Mab were used. RESULTS: Elevated levels of human murine IgG1-binding immunoglobulins of IgM class only were found in 40% of interference-positive samples, human IgG only in 1.7%, and human IgA only in 2.3% of the samples. Both elevated human IgG and IgM classes were found in 3.5% of the samples, IgA and IgM in 4.0%, and finally, all three immunoglobulin classes in 1.7% of the samples. Eighty percent of interference positive samples showed heterophilic assay interference for at least one murine IgG1 Mab, 35% for IgG2a, 66% for IgG2b, 52% for IgG3a and 17% for the rat Mab. CONCLUSIONS: Heterophilic antibody interference is mainly caused by IgM class human antibodies with a marked murine IgG subclass specificity. Combining assay antibodies from different murine IgG subclasses may reduce interference in immunoassays.

Animals↗

Pharmaceutical-grade albumin: impaired drug-binding capacity in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Albumin is the most abundant protein in blood plasma, and due to its ligand binding properties, serves as a circulating depot for endogenous and exogenous (e.g. drugs) compounds. Hence, the unbound drug is the pharmacologically active drug. Commercial human albumin preparations are frequently used during surgery and in critically ill patients. Recent studies have indicated that the use of pharmaceutical-grade albumin is controversial in critically ill patients. In this in vitro study we investigated the drug binding properties of pharmaceutical-grade albumins (Baxter/Immuno, Octapharma, and Pharmacia & Upjohn), native human serum, and commercially available human serum albumin from Sigma Chemical Company. METHODS: The binding properties of the various albumin solutions were tested in vitro by means of ultrafiltration. Naproxen, warfarin, and digitoxin were used as ligands. HPLC was used to quantitate the total and free drug concentrations. The data were fitted to a model of two classes of binding sites for naproxen and warfarin and one class for digitoxin, using Microsoft Excel and Graphpad Prism. RESULTS: The drugs were highly bound to albumin (95-99.5%). The highest affinity (lowest K1) was found with naproxen. Pharmaceutical-grade albumin solutions displayed significantly lower drug-binding capacity compared to native human serum and Sigma albumin. Thus, the free fraction was considerably higher, approximately 40 times for naproxen and 5 and 2 times for warfarin and digitoxin, respectively. The stabilizers caprylic acid and N-acetyl-DL-tryptophan used in the manufacturing procedure seem to be of importance. Adding the stabilizers to human serum and Sigma albumin reduced the binding affinity whereas charcoal treatment of the pharmaceutical-grade albumin from Octapharma almost restored the specific binding capacity. CONCLUSION: This in vitro study demonstrates that the specific binding for warfarin and digitoxin is significantly reduced and for naproxen no longer detectable in pharmaceutical-grade albumin. It further shows that the addition of stabilizers may be of major importance for this effect.

Albumins↗

Testing and validating a homogeneous immunometric assay for interference.

We analyzed 95 sera, demonstrating interference in a previous study, with the Kryptor homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) immunoassay (Brahms AG, Berlin, Germany). Only one serum differed, i.e., 6.0 microg/l for Kryptor vs. 13.3 microg/l for a microtiter plate in-house immunofluorometric assay (IFMA), using both aggregated mouse immunoglobulins as blocker and capture monoclonal antibody (Mab) F(ab')2-fragments to reduce interference. Sera were further analyzed with experimental IFMAs with intact capture Mabs and without blocker. The Kryptor-CEA assay Mab GFR44 (capture) had elevated results in 71% of sera with the Kryptor Mab G15 (tracer) or in 81% with our tracer Mab. G15 (capture) had 65% elevated results with GFR44 (tracer) or 99% with our tracer Mab. The latter was reduced from 99% to 62% by adding Kryptor blocker to the buffer or to 30% by adding our blocker. Finally, combining both assay Mabs and assay buffer from Kryptor still gave interference in 16% of sera. Kryptor-CEA assay results thus agreed with our in-house CEA assay results, showing no interference. As the Kryptor-CEA assay antibodies were sensitive to interference and the Kryptor-CEA assay buffer did not reduce interference as efficiently as our in-house assay buffer, the Kryptor-CEA assay format was crucial for the absence of interference.

Animals↗

A single-chain-Fv-based immunofluorometric assay specific for the CEA variant NCA-2.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a member of the immunoglobulin gene superfamily. In meconium, a C-terminal truncated form of CEA, denominated NCA-2, is predominant. This molecular variant is present also in sera from adult cancer patients, but no NCA-2-specific assay is yet available, and its possible clinical significance is largely unknown. We have used phage display technology to produce a single-chain antibody (scFv) suitable for an NCA-2-specific assay and compared the NCA-2 results with CEA values in patient sera. A phagemid library with a diversity of 10(7) was constructed from splenic mRNA obtained from a mouse immunized with NCA-2 purified from human meconium. Following phage rescue and three rounds of panning on solid phases coated with NCA-2, several clones were isolated, which displayed high specificity for NCA-2. These were sub-cloned into an Escherichia coli expression vector for high-level expression of soluble scFv. From BIAcore studies a single scFv with low k(off) and a K(D) of 10(-10) mol/l was selected for europium labelling and an immunofluorometric assay with a sensitivity of 0.2 microg/l was established. The assay detects a protein in serum with a molecular weight significantly lower than CEA. For comparison, a routine assay for CEA, which measures both CEA and NCA-2 equivalently, and a CEA-specific assay based on the T84.66 antibody were employed. The difference between serum values measured with the two CEA assays corresponded to the values determined with the NCA-2-specific assay.

Animals↗

Immunometric assay interference: incidence and prevention.

BACKGROUND: The primary aim of the study was to reduce interference in an in-house two-site, two-step immunometric assay. METHODS: In the running laboratory routine, 11 261 samples were tested with a carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) assay with bovine immunoglobulin but no murine immunoglobulins in the buffer, in parallel to our routine CEA assay, using 15 mg/L heat-treated nonspecific murine immunoglobulin (MAK33) in the buffer and with the Fc fragments removed from the capture antibody. RESULTS: The frequency of interference was estimated to be 4.0% (95% confidence interval, 3.3-4.7%). The addition of 15 mg/L native MAK33 had little effect (frequency, 3.9%; 95% confidence interval, 3.2-4.6%), whereas adding 15 mg/L heat-treated MAK33 reduced interference to 0.86% (0.61-1.12%), and adding 50 mg/L reduced it further to 0.06% (0-0.13%). Removing the Fc fragments by itself reduced interference to 0.10% (0.02-0.19%). There were no statistically significant differences for age (P <0.23) or gender (P <0.40) between patients with interference (n = 210) and a randomly selected interference-negative control group (n = 186). Interference was not constant in patients: 15 of 25 individuals positive for interference and with four or more samples screened for interference had an interference-negative sample either before or after the peak of interference. CONCLUSIONS: In a two-site, two-step immunometric assay using mouse monoclonal antibodies, use of heat-treated nonspecific murine immunoglobulin in the buffer or removal of the Fc fragment from the capture antibody could improve performance.

Animals↗