Use of a monoclonal antibody to estrone-3-glucuronide in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

A direct urinary ELISA for estrone-3-glucuronide has been produced following cloning and characterisation of a monoclonal antibody to the above estrogen metabolite. The ELISA follows our established pattern of absorbing a thyroglobulin conjugate, to which estrone-3-glucuronide has been coupled, to the wells of a microtitre plate using guanidine hydrochloride. A competition reaction between either standards/samples and the adsorbed hormone compete for antibody combining sites. The assay is completed by addition of an anti-mouse Ig-peroxidase complex and read at 492 nm following additions of O-phenylenediamine substrate in under 4 h. The correlation between urinary "total estradiol" and "total estrone and estradiol" is very good and, in conjunction with our ELISA for pregnanediol glucuronide, has allowed for the improved clinical management of infertile and subfertile women.