DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY FOR RAT SOLUBLE INTERLEUKIN-2 RECEPTORS

This study describes the development of a sandwich enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) for rat soluble IL-2 receptors (sIL-2R) using a combination of monoclonal antibodies reactive with different epitopes on the rat IL- 2R. Coating plates with NDS61 and NDS64 monoclonal antibodies produced similar dose-response curves when incubated with a standard sIL-2R pr eparation followed by biotinylated OX39, streptavidin-alkaline phospha tase and the substrate. Although normal rat serum inhibited the assay, the effects were more profound when NDS64 was used as the capture ant ibody and subsequent development of the assay was performed using NDS6 1. The intra- and interassay variations were typically less than 5%. T his assay will be valuable for monitoring immune activation status in a variety of experimental models.