Ž. A surface plasmon resonance SPR protocol is described for the direct kinetic analysis of small antigenic peptides Ž . Ž . interacting with immobilized monoclonal antibodies mAb . High peptide concentrations up to 2.5 mM and medium mAb Ž 2 . Ž surface densities about 1.5 ngrmm are needed to ensure measurable binding levels, and fast buffer flow rates 60 . mlrmin are required to minimize diffusion-controlled kinetics. Good reproducibility levels in the kinetic constants are Ž . obtained under these analysis conditions standard deviations below 10% of the mean values . Application of this protocol to determine the antigenic ranking of viral peptides shows an excellent agreement between SPR and previous competition Ž . enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays ELISA on the same peptiderantibody systems. q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.