Other

New Horizons Diagnostics Corporation

Immunodiagnostics, Inc.

Duane A Olsen

David T Bernstein

Thomas M Buchanan

Carl Formoso

An assay is provided in which a target ligand is detected in a biological specimen. The method involves treating the target ligand with detergent and then binding the treated ligand to a particle by means of a capturing substance on the particle, thereby forming a complex. The complex is then applied to a porous membrane having a charge similar to that of a glass fiber filter in order to immobilize the complex in the porous membrane. The pore size of the membrane is substantially larger than the size of the complex such that the immobilization of the complex is substantially accomplished by means of the attraction of the complex to the charge of the porous membrane, and not as a function of the pore size of the membrane. Thereafter, the presence of the complex in the porous membrane is detected.

Immunoassay method for the rapid identification of detergent treated

Highly immunoreactive regions of gp41 of HIV-1, gp32 of HIV-2 and p24 of HIV-1 were identified using synthetic peptides. Superior immunoassay performance is obtained with these peptides linked to carrier proteins as compared to use of the free peptides. Additional natural and unnatural variants of these reactive regions to define a set of peptides that, as cysteine-linked peptide-protein conjugates, provide optimal immunoassay performance including high immunoreactivity with HIV antibody positive samples, low reactivity with negative samples, high discrimination between positives and negatives, and high specificity. These peptide conjugates further permit simultaneous detection of HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies, and make possible rapid and simple test formats that require no instrumentation for detection of these antibodies.

Synthetic HIV-like peptides their compositions and uses

A sandwich immunoassay method is disclosed that is useful for the identification of an antigen in biological specimens. The method is comprised of a colloidal gold labeled binder specific for epitopes or receptors of a ligand, nonporous particulate solid phase which have antiligand covalently attached, and which said reagents are combined with the biological specimen or an extract of the biological specimen, and after an appropriate incubation, the said reactant mixture is contacted to a porous film having an exposed surface area of contact no greater than 30 mm.sup.2 to separate and concentrate the particle bound colloidal gold labeled binder from the unbound. The identification of an antigen is determined by the presence of color on the surface of the solid phase particles captured on the surface of the film. A competitive inhibition assay can be also used to identify the presence of a hapten or antigen, in which case the presence of the analyte is determined by the absence of color.

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Tacoma, WA, United States of America

Duane A Olsen