Monoclonal antibodies against hepatitis B s antigen: production, characterization, and use for diagnosis

Generation of monoclonal antibodies against 17α-hydroxyprogesterone for newborn screening of congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by the deficiency of one of the five enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of corticosteroids. The most common form of the disease is the lack of 21-hydroxylase which provokes an accumulation of high levels of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), the main biochemical marker for illness detection. Given the significance of neonatal diagnosis for ensuring a timely treatment to patients suffering from CAH, newborn screening is worldwide performed for the determination of 17-OHP from dried blood spots on filter paper. The non-specificity of antisera employed in immunoassays and the cross-reaction with fetal adrenal hormones produce an overestimation in the 17-OHP quantification. Immunization of mice with 17-OHP-3-(O-carboxymethyl) oxime-bovine serum albumin led to the generation of 15 anti-17-OHP IgG1-and-IgG2b-secreting hybridomas. The 6E2G9 monoclonal antibody presents cross-reactivity values similar to those achieved by rabbit antibodies employed in the solid phase of UMELISA® 17-OH Progesterona Neonatal, assay for the newborn screening of CAH in Cuba. Additionally, the use of 6E2G9 in the evaluation of dried blood spots samples from newborns on filter paper showed a decrease in the mean 17-OHP levels, thus demonstrating it can replace the conventional rabbit antisera.

Impact of the introduction of high-affinity specific monoclonal antibodies in the improvement of sensitivity and specificity parameters of UMELISA HBsAg PLUS and UMELISA TSH immunoenzymatic techniques

Improvement in the sensitivity and specificity of UMELISA techniques as a result of the introduction of monoclonal antibodies superseding the use of polyclonal antibodies was studied. For this purpose, we performed a comparison of the results in the functioning of the screening programs before and after the introduction of monoclonal antibodies. We analyzed some parameters such as sensitivity, specificity and detection limit in the UMELISA HBsAg PLUS and UMELISA TSH techniques. The sensitivity and specificity parameters were evaluated by means of comparison with the commercial assays. The detection limit was calculated as the fluorescence of the calibrator 0 + 2 standard deviations. Since the introduction of MAb obtained for us an increase in the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value was evidenced. On the other hand, the use of the MAb guarantees better stability in the diagnostic kit production process.