MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY BASED ELISAS FOR CRYPTOCOCCAL POLYSACCHARIDE

Mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed to detect Cryptococcus neoformans capsular polysaccharides from the four serotypes A, B, C and D. The ELISAs avoid the problem of unreliable polysaccharide binding to polystyrene plates by using MAbs to capture and immobilize the polysaccharide antigen. The presence of polysaccharide is detected using MAbs of a different isotype from that of the capture MAb. The capturing MAbs are themselves immobilized on the plates using commercial goat anti-mouse polyclonal sera. The MAbs bind to the glucuronoxylomannan component of cryptococcal polysaccharide. The ELISAs can be used to measure the concentration of polysaccharide in biological fluids and are potentially useful tools for basic research and clinical studies.