Competitive immunoassay for recombinant hirudin using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

J Chromatogr A. 2001 Jul 27;924(1-2):337-44. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9673(01)00829-9.

Abstract

A competitive immunoassay based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) has been developed for the determination of recombinant hirudin (r-hirudin) in biological mixtures. Hirudin, a thrombin inhibitor, is a polypeptide of 65 amino acids. To check purity levels and perform pharmacokinetic studies of (r-hirudin), specific and reproducible analysis methods are demanded. The work involved the development of separation conditions allowing for routine analysis of plasma samples. In this study, r-hirudin was labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), and FITC-labeled r-hirudin was purified using high-performance liquid chromatography. The purified product was then mixed with the sample followed with the addition of anti-hirudin antibody. Free, antibody-bound, and tagged r-hirudin could be separated within 5 min by CE analysis using uncoated fused-silica capillary with high reproducibility. The developed method can be used to determine r-hirudin with good precision and a detection limit lower than 20 nM. This result demonstrates the feasibility of the CE-LIF immunoassay method for the determination of r-hirudin in plasma samples.

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies / immunology
  • Electrophoresis, Capillary / methods*
  • Hirudins / analysis*
  • Hirudins / immunology
  • Immunoassay / methods*
  • Lasers
  • Recombinant Proteins / analysis
  • Recombinant Proteins / immunology
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods*

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Hirudins
  • Recombinant Proteins