RECYCLING IMMUNOAFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR MULTIPLE ANALYTE ANALYSISIN BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES

The ability to isolate and measure multiple complex analytes in a sing le biological sample holds great potential in many biomedical fields, especially immunology and diagnostic clinical chemistry. We have devel oped a procedure involving recycling immunoaffinity chromatography for the simultaneous measurement of a number of analytes in a single samp le. The procedure is based on the passage of a fluorochrome-labelled s ample through a battery of small immunoaffinity columns, each column e xtracting a single analyte. Detection is achieved by acid elution of t he bound analytes and laser-induced fluorescence. We have applied this system to a number of different biological fluids and found that it i s capable of reliably isolating and measuring up to ten different cyto kines in a 25-mu l sample of human body fluid. (C) 1998 Published by E lsevier Science B.V.