Quantitative Determination of Alpha‐Fetoprotein (AFP) in Biological Fluids by a Direct and Rapid Radioimmunoassay, Prist

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A paper disc radioimmunoassay (RIA) of sandwich type originally introduced for AFP determination is presented. With the use of an immunosorbent-purified antiserum, the immunoreactivity as well as the coefficient of interassay variation were both significantly improved. A modification of this method will permit the results of the assay to be accessible within 5 h of initiation of the assay procedure. During early pregnancy certain grave pathological conditions, e.g., open neutral-tube defects, congenital nephrosis of the Finnish type and impending or occurred fetal death may clearly be signaled by extreme elevations of the maternal serum AFP levels. Such conditions may be revealed by any method for quantitative determination of AFP with a sensitivity of approximately 50 .mu.g/l. The paper-disc RIA of sandwich type [for routine antenatal screening] offers the advantage of being simple to run, without any sophisticated stages requiring great personal skill. Furthermore it may be operated in any routine laboratory with access to a gamma-scintillation counter. Each technician is likely to be able to process 200-300 duplicate assays per day.