A SANDWICH ELISA BASED ON ANTI-APO(A) AND ANTI-APO-B MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES FOR LIPOPROTEIN(A) MEASUREMENT

Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is one of the most important independent risk f actors for the prediction of premature atherosclerosis. Lp(a) is a low -density lipoprotein (LDL)-like particle which contains a glycoprotein (apoprotein(a)) disulfide linked to apo B-100. We describe a sandwich ELISA based on an anti-apo(a) monoclonal antibody (MAb) and an anti-a pe B MAb for the quantitative determination of Lp(a) in human serum. T he assay is sensitive, precise and specific. Samples with different ap o(a) isoforms had a linear response in a range of 3-70 mg/dl of Lp(a). Correlations between the ELISA and a commercial ELISA, an immunoradio metric assay and electroimmunodiffusion were 0.92, 0.96 and 0.98, resp ectively. The frequency distribution of Lp(a) concentration in blood d onors showed the skew toward the right reported in other populations. Patients with angiographically assessed coronary atherosclerosis had t hree times higher levels of Lp(a) than those with no signs of coronary atherosclerosis.