High sensitivity chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay for detecting staphylococcal enterotoxin A in multi-matrices

•This CLEIA for detecting SEA was developed by using a pair of highly specific mAbs.•This CLEIA for the detecting SEA is highly sensitive and specific.•It can be successfully applied to the analysis of SEA in a variety of environmental, biological matrices.

In this study, detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) in multi-matrices using a highly sensitive and specific microplate chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) has been established. A pair of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) was selected from 37 anti-SEA mAbs by pairwise analysis, and the experimental conditions of the CLEIA were optimized. This CLEIA exhibited high performance with a wide dynamic range from 6.4 pg mL−1 to 1600 pg mL−1, and the measured low limit of detection (LOD) was 3.2 pg mL−1. No cross-reactivity was observed when this method was applied to test SEB, SEC1, and SED. It has also been successfully applied for analyzing SEA in a variety of environmental, biological, and clinical matrices, such as sewage, tap water, river water, roast beef, peanut butter, cured ham, 10% nonfat dry milk, milk, orange juice, human urine, and serum. Thus, the highly sensitive and SEA-specific CLEIA should make it attractive for quantifying SEA in public health and diagnosis in near future.

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