Antibody production and application for immunoassay development of environmental hormones: a review

Abstract

Environmental hormones, also called environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are produced by various human activities and environment pollution, and they are composed of industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants. They play a harmful role in breaking the balance of normal physiological metabolism, causing serious diseases and disrupting reproductive development in wildlife and human beings by inhibiting or imitating the action of normal gonadal hormones. Strict controls of maximum residue levels to some environmental hormones in foodstuff have been set up by many countries. Traditional detection methods, due to their high accuracy and maturity, are used extensively, such as HPLC, HPLC-MS, and GC-MS. However, these methods are time consuming and require extraordinary skills of operators, and sometimes they cannot meet the requirements of field testing. Immunoassay has the advantages of high specificity, sensitivity, simplicity, convenience, and the ability to achieve high throughput, playing an irreplaceable role in the field of rapid detection. This review focuses on the antibody production and the development of immunoassays to detect environmental hormones in food and environment. Therefore, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are selected as examples to introduce a series of procedures for the detection of environmental hormones including antigen synthesis, antibody production, and antibody-based detection methods.

Analytical Methods for the Determination of Neuroactive Steroids

“…Similar to other low molecular weight substances, steroids are not immunogenic, which is contrary to chemical compounds with a molecular weight over 1000 kDa that are usually immunogenic [ 46 , 49 ]. As with all other low molecular weight haptens, the immunogenicity of steroids can be increased by conjugation to a high molecular weight carrier (usually a protein carrier such as serum albumin, ovalbumin, or keyhole limpet hemocyanin).…”

A Two-Dimensional Affinity Capture and Separation Mini-Platform for the Isolation, Enrichment, and Quantification of Biomarkers and Its Potential Use for Liquid Biopsy

“…To date, numerous variations to the original immunoassays have been developed, including fluorescence immunoassay, chemiluminescence immunoassay, time-resolved immunoassay, lateral flow assay, etc. These immunoassays have been widely used not only in clinical chemistry and food science, but also for the detection of analytes derived from forensic samples, environmental samples, plastic products, cosmetic products, drinking water, and others [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Immunoassays in general are now the gold standard for biomarker detection and quantification in many laboratories around the world, due to their simplicity and user-friendly operation, relatively low cost, scalability, and utilization of small sample and reagent volumes [ 15 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 24 ].…”

“…These immunoassays have been widely used not only in clinical chemistry and food science, but also for the detection of analytes derived from forensic samples, environmental samples, plastic products, cosmetic products, drinking water, and others [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Immunoassays in general are now the gold standard for biomarker detection and quantification in many laboratories around the world, due to their simplicity and user-friendly operation, relatively low cost, scalability, and utilization of small sample and reagent volumes [ 15 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 24 ]. Unfortunately, there are inherent limitations to immunoassay technologies that affect their clinical applications, such as antigen-antibody cross-reactivity, narrow concentration range of the analyte, variable reproducibility amongst different laboratories, lot-to-lot variability, and sample preparation time [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

3D-Printed Immunosensor Arrays for Cancer Diagnostics

“…Several analytical strategies have been adapted for development of ultrasensitive detection of protein biomarkers associated with different types of cancer. Immunoassay format is the most commonly used technique for analysis due to the inherent specificity associated with the use of antibodies as molecular-recognition agents [10,11]. Immunoassay formats have been integrated with several detection strategies in order to develop cancer diagnostics including colorimetric [12], fluorescence [13], electrochemical [14], chemiluminescence [15], electrochemiluminescence [16], and plasmon resonance sensors [17].…”