A rational route to the development of a competitive capillary electrophoresis immunoassay: Assessment of the variables affecting the performances of a competitive capillary electrophoresis immunoassay for human serum albumin

Affinity capillary electrophoresis is a powerful analytical tool to extract quantitative information about the binding properties of different interacting systems. The use of LIF detection makes the technique suitable for screening strong binding interactions. The non-equilibrium electrophoretic separations of pre-equilibrated mixtures of ligand and receptor are generally used for such strong molecular interactions allowing the assessment of capillary electrophoresis immunoassays, mostly in competitive formats. As the analytical performances of the assay strongly depend on the preservation of the binding properties during the separation, a rational route to assay development has to be followed to get the best conditions. The paper describes the steps followed to set-up a competitive immunoassay for human serum albumin (HSA) by using a labeled protein (HSA-FITC) and an anti-HSA polyclonal antiserum. A labeling degree of around 1 of the HSA-FITC conjugates is needed to get narrow electrophoretic peak while the titration curve is used to define the optimal antiserum dilution. An antiserum-labeled protein affinity constant of 1.34 × 107 M−1 was measures in the selected separation conditions. Furthermore, in order to maximize the assay competition between the labeled and unlabelled HSA a short pre-incubation step of the antiserum with the unlabelled HSA (the analyte) was introduced to promote a sharp increase in assay sensitivity.

► A planning strategy for the development of a competitive capillary electrophoresis immunoassay is described. ► The approach is similar to that used in the conventional microplate immunoassay. ► It allows us to get the full optimization of the assay performance. ►The sensitivity is increased by incubating the HSA with the antiserum prior to addition of labeled HSA.