HuCAL® Recombinant Antibodies as Autoimmune Calibrators and Controls
Autoimmune diseases are conditions where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues rather than limiting it’s action to attacking invading pathogens. Different tissues are affected in different diseases. For example, in type 1 diabetes mellitus, the immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. In Graves’ disease the thyroid gland is attacked in such a way as to cause the gland to be overactive. In Addison’s disease, the steroid producing cells of the adrenal gland are attacked and destroyed by the immune system. The muscle weakness characteristic of myasthenia gravis is due to the immune system attacking the neuromuscular junction.
The reason why autoimmunity develops is not really known. Usually both cells and antibodies are involved in autoimmune diseases. Antibodies (or autoantibodies in this case) bind to specific molecules in the tissues which are under autoimmune attack. These molecules are known as autoantigens.
Comparing HuCAL® recombinant antibodies to patient sera
The detection of human antibodies in patient sera in various formats or isotypes lies at the heart of a broad range of immunodiagnostic assays. Currently, these assays make use of human sera as assay control reagents and calibrators. However, there is variation among preparations of patient sera, as well as poor availability and the risk of contamination that indicates the need for a reliable alternative. HuCAL® recombinant antibodies have clear potential to replace patient sera in these assays, since they are a fully defined and traceable source of human antibodies which can be engineered to the required isotypes and can be produced in an unlimited supply.
Following our recent announcement that Phadia AB, a world leader in autoimmunity and allergy testing, has implemented a series of HuCAL® based recombinant control antibodies in its marketed autoimmune tests Varelisa™ and EliA™, we are proud to announce the publication of an article showing a direct comparison between patient sera and HuCAL® recombinant IgA. The article describes the development of a set of human monoclonal IgA antibodies specific for the cardiolipin-beta2-glycoprotein 1 complex, using the HuCAL® technology. It also evaluates the IgA variants of these antibodies for their use as standards in IgA anticardiolipin antibody assays and compares these reagents to typical serum controls.
To learn more, please refer to the article below, or visit for more information about HuCAL® technology.
DownloadKnappik, A. et al. (2009) Development of recombinant human IgA for anticardiolipin antibodies assay standardization Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1173: 190-8 |
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