Column affinity chromatography for bound/free separation in ligand assays. I. Radioimmunoassay of choriomammotropin (human placental lactogen).

A method is described for separating antibody-bound from free fractions in ligand assays by column affinity chromatography, and its application to radioimmunoassay of choriomammotropin. In the method, 70 x 10 mm (i.d.) polypropylene columns containing about 150 mg of immunosorbent (goat anti-rabbit gamma-globulins covalently linked to Sepharose CL-4B) are used. Standards or unknowns, tracer and antiserum, pipetted into bottom-capped columns, are kept separated from the immunosorbent bed by a porous polyethylene disc and allowed to react for 15 min at room temperature. The reaction mixture is then allowed to pass through the columns by removing the bottom caps. Free antigen is eluted by washing the column, and discarded; antibody-bound fractions remain bound to the immunosorbent. The radioactivity in the columns is counted. The major advantages of the present technique, arising from the liquid-phase reaction combined with the solid-phase separation by column affinity chromatography, are the very low nonspecific binding (less than 1%), good sensitivity (0.02 mg/L), good precision (CV 3.4%), and simple and fast (30-min) assay. For 50 clinical samples so assayed (gamma) and compared with a polyethylene glycol precipitation technique (x), the regression equation was: y - 0.14 + 0.98x (r = 0.994). The assay method was clinical validated by 3493 determinations.