Methods and reagents are disclosed for minimizing a false result in an assay measurement for determining a concentration of an analyte in a sample suspected of containing the analyte. The method comprises pretreating both an antibody and a sample to be subjected to a non-agglutination immunoassay. In the method the antibody and the sample are combined with a pretreatment agent selected from the group consisting of hydroxyphenyl-substituted C1-C5 carboxylic acids and metallic salts thereof and halogen-substituted C1-C5 carboxylic acids and metallic salts thereof in an amount effective to enhance the accuracy of the non-agglutination immunoassay.

The present invention relates to a kit of parts and methods for determining the presence and quantity of one or more TNF-α inhibitor drugs and/or anti-TNF-α inhibitor drug antibodies in one or more biological samples each comprising less than 200 μl, the method comprising the steps of providing a reaction liquid comprising the sample, a first TNF-α conjugate comprising TNF-α and a first conjugated moiety and a second TNF-α conjugate comprising TNF-α and a second conjugated moiety, said second moiety being capable of generating or ameliorating a detectable signal in the presence of a molecular complex comprising a TNF-α inhibitor, followed by detecting the change in signal when the complex between the TNF-α inhibitor drug, the first TNF-α conjugate and a the second TNF-α conjugate forms.

A method for measuring a steroid in a urine sample comprising: an acid treatment step of mixing and reacting an urine sample with an acid solution such that a normality of acid becomes 0.6 to 4N to obtain an acid-treated solution; a neutralization treatment step of mixing and reacting the acid-treated solution and a neutralizing solution to obtain a neutralization-treated solution; and a measurement step of mixing the neutralization-treated solution and an antibody capable of specifically binding to a steroid to measure the steroid.

A reagent for extracting immunosuppressant drugs from a whole blood sample for immunoassay includes protein denaturant, proteolytic enzyme, surfactant and pH buffer. A method and an immunoassay kit for detection of the immunosuppressant concentration in a whole blood sample uses the extraction reagent. The extraction reagent doesn't need the use of organic solvent as that in the traditional extraction methods, therefore the adverse effects of the organic solvent on the antibody activity in a detection system and the other relative defects associated to its use are obviated. The drug extraction process doesn't need centrifugation, as the processed sample can be directly applied for immunoassay. The operation for drug extraction is simple, and the detection result based on this extraction method is accurate.

A method for detecting an analyte is described in which the simultaneously binding of two fusion proteins (i.e., a sandwich assay in solution) is used, bringing two halves of a split enzyme together to produce product, which is detected via a FRET-based biosensor. The method may incorporate an autocatalytic feedback loop that responds to enzymatic product by producing more product to provide ultrasensitive, bistable detection of analyte that is tunable over several orders of magnitude. This system is broadly applicable for protein and small molecule detection.

A test strip and kit for testing mycophenolic acid and a preparation method of the test strip are described. The test strip includes a bottom plate and a sample pad, a glassfiber membrane, a nitrocellulose membrane and an absorbent paper which are successively lapped on a surface of the bottom plate, the sample pad is treated by a sample pad treatment fluid; the glassfiber membrane is treated by a glassfiber membrane treatment fluid; the glassfiber membrane is coated by a mycophenolic acid specific-antibody conjugate; the nitrocellulose membrane is provided with a detection line and a quality control line; and a mycophenolic acid protein conjugate is sprayed on the detection line.

Methods and reagents are disclosed for minimizing a false result in an assay measurement for determining a concentration of an analyte in a sample suspected of containing the analyte. The method comprises pretreating both an antibody and a sample to be subjected to a non-agglutination immunoassay. In the method the antibody and the sample are combined with a pretreatment agent selected from the group consisting of hydroxyphenyl-substituted C1-C5 carboxylic acids and metallic salts thereof and halogen-substituted C1-C5 carboxylic acids and metallic salts thereof in an amount effective to enhance the accuracy of the non-agglutination immunoassay.

The present invention relates to a novel use of regulatory T cell-specific surface protein Lrig-1, and more specifically to an immunosuppressive agent comprising siRNA which inhibits the expression of surface protein Lrig-1. In addition, the invention relates to a method for screening an immunosuppressive agent which inhibits proteins of Lrig-1 or genes encoding the proteins. As a result, an immunosuppressive agent with low side effects and high specificity can be developed.

Methods are disclosed of designing antibodies for a sandwich assay for a small molecule having a molecular weight of about 500 to about 2,000. The method comprises preparing a first antibody that binds to the small molecule, and preparing a second antibody that binds to the small molecule at a portion of the small molecule other than a portion to which the first antibody binds. The second antibody is prepared from an immunogen that comprises a predetermined portion of the small molecule. The antibodies may be employed in sandwich assays for the small molecule.

The present application relates to antibodies that bind to small molecules such as cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and analogs thereof, and immunological assays for determining the presence and/or quantifying the amount of cyclophosphamide and/or ifosfamide in a sample. By way of example, such immunological assays can be used for environmental testing.