The Welsh National School of Medicine

John S Simpson

James Stuart Woodhead

Anthony Keith Campbell

The invention relates to a method of detecting, analyzing, quantifying or locating a protein, antibody, antigen, hapten, hormone, metabolite, nucleic acid or steroid, in which the substance of interest is linked to a chemi-luminescent or bio-luminescent label. A luminescent reaction is then triggered by the addition of an oxidizing agent or a catalyst and the emitted light is observed in order to provide information about the substance. The invention employs a luminescent reagent which consists of antibodies labelled with a luminescent material such as luminol. The luminescent reagent can be used to quantify antigens in an immunological assay. The luminescent labelled antibodies selectively bind to the antigens and the amount of light emitted in a luminescent reaction gives an indication of the amount of antigens present. A luminescent labelled substance can also be reacted with an antibody or antigen labelled with a fluorescent material in order to carry out a homogeneous assay.

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Cardiff, United Kingdom

John S Simpson