ELISA for the quantification of pilsicainide

Quantification of Cibenzoline by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

We have developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) suitable for routine monitoring of serum levels of cibenzoline. Anti-cibenzoline antibody was obtained by immunizing rabbits with cibenzoline conjugated with bovine serum albumin using N-(4-maleimidobutyryloxy)succinimide as a heterobifunctional coupling agent. An enzyme marker was prepared by coupling 2,2-diphenylethylamine with beta-D-galactosidase using glutaraldehyde. The detection limit of cibenzoline by ELISA was approximately 640 pg/ml with 50-microl samples. Cross-reactivity data showed that the antibody well recognizes both the diphenyl and cyclopropyl moieties, and is thus specific enough to the structure of cibenzoline. The values for the cibenzoline concentrations detected using this assay were comparable with those detected using HPLC. There was a good correlation between the values determined by the two methods. Moreover, ELISA was about 15-fold more sensitive in detecting cibenzoline at lower concentrations. Using this assay, drug levels were easily measured in the serum of rabbits after oral administration of cibenzoline at a single dose of 3 mg/kg.

Designing allosteric peptide ligands targeting a globular protein

Patented signal analytic algorithms applied to hydrophobically transformed, numerical amino acid sequences have previously been used to design short, protein-targeted, L or D retro-inverso peptides. These peptides have demonstrated allosteric and/or indirect agonist effects on a variety of G-protein and tyrosine kinase coupled membrane receptors with 30% to over 80% hit rates. Here we extend these approaches to a globular protein target. We designed eight peptide ligands targeting an ELISA antibody responsive protein, beta-galactosidase, betaGAL. Three of the eight 14mer peptides allosterically activated betaGAL with ELISA methodology. Using Bayesian statistics, this 38% hit rate would have occurred 2 x 10(-9) by chance. These peptides demonstrated binding site competitive or noncompetitive interactions, suggesting allosteric site multiplicity with respect to their betaGAL binding-mediated ELISA signal. Kinetic studies demonstrated the temperature dependence of the betaGAL peptide binding functions. Using the van't Hoff relation, we found evidence for enthalpy-entropy compensation. This relation is often found for hydrophobic interactions in aqueous media, and is consistent with the postulated hydrophobic series encoding underlying our protein-targeted, peptide design methods. It appears that our algorithmic, hydrophobic autocovariance eigenvector template approach to the design of allosteric peptides targeting membrane receptors may also be applicable to the design of peptide ligands targeting nonmembrane involved globular proteins.

Establishment of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Measurement of Sotalol

We have established an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay suitable for routine monitoring of serum levels of sotalol. Anti-sotalol antibody was obtained by immunizing rabbits with sotalol conjugated with bovine serum albumin using the N-succinimidyl ester method. An enzyme marker was similarly prepared by coupling sotalol with beta-D-galactosidase. The detection limit of sotalol by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was approximately 32 ng/ml with 50-microl samples. This assay was specific for sotalol because of very slight cross-reactivity with 4-(methanesulfonylamino)benzonitrile (1.6%), but none with D,L-isoproterenol. Using this assay, drug levels were easily measured in the serum of rabbits after oral administration of sotalol at a single dose of 3 mg/kg. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay should be a valuable tool in therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies of sotalol.