Method of agglutination immunoassay

Abstract

The present invention provides a particle enhanced agglutination immunoassay including the steps of: mixing a sample solution containing an analyte with a solution containing insoluble carrier particles carrying a binding partner or binding partners for the analyte to prepare a mixed solution; determining a variation (i) in intensity of light scattered from the mixed solution based on a difference in intensity of scattered light between first and second time points; determining a variation (ii) in absorbance of the mixed solution based on a difference in absorbance between third and fourth time points; and correlating the determined variation (i) in intensity of scattered light and the determined variation (ii) in absorbance with an amount of the analyte present in the sample using a calibration curve plotted based on the variation in intensity of scattered light and a calibration curve plotted based on the variation in absorbance. The present invention employs measurements of the intensity of scattered light and the absorbance in combination for a single assay, and thus provides a particle enhanced agglutination immunoassay which achieves higher sensitivity and a wider dynamic range than conventional assays.

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