Back to results
US 5,135,875 AGranted
Protein precipitation reagent
AssigneeAbbott Laboratories
InventorsVictoria P. Meucci, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Mariola B. Zajac
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeAbbott Laboratories
InventorsVictoria P. Meucci, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Mariola B. Zajac
Estimating the term…
A precipitation reagent for use in analytical systems for the determination of hydrophobic analytes in a biological test sample, particularly analytical systems employing specific binding proteins for such analytes. The precipitation reagent precipitates interfering proteins, hemoglobin, and other interfering substances from a biological test sample while, at the same, maintaining hydrophobic analytes in solution and minimizing the denaturation of specific binding proteins, such as, for example, antibodies, which may be present in an immunoassay system. The precipitation reagent comprises a zinc salt, a glycol, and a straight or branced alcohol from about 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and may optionally contain an acid. A preferred precipitation reagent comprises zinc sulfate, methanol and ethylene glycol, and is particularly useful in a fluorescent polarization immunoassay for the determination of hydrophobic analytes, especially cyclosporine.
An immunoassay test kit comprising in separate containers a reagent useful for precipitating proteins and extracting a hydrophobic analyte from a biological test sample and a specific binding agent for said analyte, said reagent comprising from about 5.0 mM to about 100.00 mM of a zinc salt, from about 5 percent (weight/volume) to about 50 percent (weight/volume) of a glycol, a glycerol or a combination thereof, and from about 30 percent (weight/volume) to about 100 percent (weight/volume) of a straight or branched chain alcohol having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
In an immunoassay method for determining a hydrophobic analyte in a biological test sample which assay includes utilizing a precipitation reagent to remove interfering proteins from said sample prior to immunological detection of said analyte wherein the improvement comprises utilizing as the precipitation reagent, a precipitation reagent comprising from about 5.0 mM to about 100.00 mM of a zinc salt, from about 5 percent (weight/volume) to about 50 percent (weight/volume) of a glycol, a glycerol or a combination thereof, and from about 30 percent (weight/volume) to about 100 percent (weight/volume) of a straight or branched chain alcohol having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.