An improved method for isolation of specific antibodies by affinity chromatography; application to an antiserum to testosterone.

The specificity of polyclonal antibodies for use in immunoassay procedures can be improved by purification on affinity columns. The standard procedure involves immunoabsorption of the specific antibody populations on the insolubilized antigen, followed by desorption from the latter. However, the desorption process usually results in antibody damage and loss of antibody titer. We therefore designed an affinity chromatography procedure involving immunoabsorption of the main cross-reacting antibody fractions instead of the specific ones, eliminating thereby the desorption step. We exemplify the procedure with the purification of an anti-testosterone antibody.