Assay for enzyme activity
AssigneeBritish Technology Group Limited
InventorDavid C. Wilton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of assay for an enzyme catalysing the release of long chain fatty acids or, conversely, for an ester substrate for such enzymes is applicable to clinical samples and comprises removing substantially all the albumin from the clinical sample, incubating the sample after albumin removal with, for enzyme assay, an ester substrate or, for substrate assay, the enzyme, under conditions effective to release a fatty acid, causing the fatty acid to bind to a fatty acid binding protein and assaying the binding of the fatty acid to the binding protein.
Claims24
A method of assaying for an enzyme that catalyzes directly or indirectly the release of long chain fatty acids or for an ester substrate for such an enzyme in a clinical sample, which comprises the steps of:
- (1) providing a clinical sample containing an enzyme or an enzyme substrate to be assayed;
- (2) incubating said clinical sample with an ester substrate for the enzyme to be assayed or with the enzyme which acts upon the substrate to be assayed, under conditions effective to release a fatty acid therefrom;
- (3) adding a fatty acid binding protein (FABP) to cause the released fatty acid to bind to said FABP;
- and
- (4) assaying the binding of the FABP to the fatty acid and correlating the binding result to the amount of enzyme or substrate present in the sample.
A kit for carrying out an assay for an enzyme catalyzing directly or indirectly the release of long chain fatty adds or for an ester substrate for such enzymes in an albumin-containing clinical sample which comprises:
- (1) a reagent for removing substantially all albumin from the clinical sample, and
- (2) fatty acid binding protein (FABP).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.