US4436826A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Tagged immunoassay
Assignee: PROFILE DIAGNOSTIC SCIENCES Inc A CORP OF NEVADA
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Filing: 1981-10-21
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Granted: 1984-03-13
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Expires: 2001-10-21
Abstract
Abstract An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen comprises reacting the target with reagent antibody or antigen which forms a complex with the target and is tagged with tagging elements which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay. Preferably the reagent antibody or antigen is carried by small, tagged mobile units, such as latex particles of a size smaller than 0.8 μm, having tagging elements embedded therein. The tagged complexes which are formed may be measured by X-ray fluorescence or by detection of radioactive decay. Different target antigens or antibodies can be assayed simultaneously by employing different tagged mobile units, and the mobile units with the tagging elements can be recovered for disposal or for reuse.
Inventors
- 👤 Chia-Gee Wang
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 12:05
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N33/00; G01N33/48; G01N33/50; G01N33/53; G01N33/531; G01N33/532; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S436/00; Y10S436/829
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 49
Claim 1
Independent Claim
75 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises reacting the target with reagent antibody or antigen which forms a complex with the target and is tagged with tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, and detecting the formed, tagged complexes.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
75 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises reacting the target with reagent antibody or antigen which forms a complex with the target and is tagged with tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, and detecting the formed, tagged complexes.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein the tagging elements or compounds are protected by being embedded within small latex particles.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 2, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by ion implantation into said latex particles.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
60 words
A method according to claim 2, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by vapor coating onto a portion of the surface of a latex particle, followed by further coating the vapor coated portion of the latex particle with an element or a compound which is non-reactive with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 2, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by coating thin latex sheets with the tagging elements or compounds, pressing the coated surfaces of two sheets together to form a composite sheet and cutting the composite sheet with an electron or ion beam into particles.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method according to claim 2, wherein the small latex particles carry a plurality of reagent antibody or antigen molecules and said particles are sequentially introduced to the specimen for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
39 words
A method according to claim 2, wherein the small latex particles carry a plurality of reagent antibody or antigen molecules and said particles are introduced to the specimen in small increments for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein the reagent antibody or antigen is tagged with heavy tagging elements which have an atomic weight in excess of 50.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
15 words
A method according to claim 1, wherein the tagged complexes are detected by X-ray fluorescence.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
83 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises reacting the target with reagent antibody or antigen which forms a complex with the target and is carried by small tagged mobile units having tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, and detecting the tagged mobile units bearing formed complexes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
83 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises reacting the target with reagent antibody or antigen which forms a complex with the target and is carried by small tagged mobile units having tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, and detecting the tagged mobile units bearing formed complexes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.8 μm.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.35 μm.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.1 μm.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the mobile units have a size in the range from 0.1 μm to 0.008 μm.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 10, 12 or 13, wherein said mobile units are latex particles.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 15, wherein the tagging elements or compounds are protected by being embedded within said latex particles.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 16, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by ion implantation into said latex particles.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
60 words
A method according to claim 16, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by vapor coating onto a portion of the surface of a latex particle, followed by further coating the vapor coated portion of the latex particle, with an element or a compound which is non-reactive with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 16, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by coating thin latex sheets with the tagging elements or compounds, pressing the coated surfaces of two sheets together to form a composite sheet, and cutting the composite sheet with an electron or ion beam into particles.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the reagent antibody or antigen is tagged with heavy tagging elements which have an atomic weight in excess of 50.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged mobile units carrying reagent antibody or antigen are sequentially introduced to the specimen for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged mobile units carrying reagent antibody or antigen are introduced to the specimen in small increments for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
15 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein the tagged complexes are detected by X-ray fluorescence.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
105 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises coupling reagent antibody or antigen, which forms a complex with the target, with small tagged mobile units having tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, reacting the tagged mobile units coupled with antibody or antigen with the target antigen or antibody, separating the unreacted mobile units and measuring the number of reacted mobile units by detection of the tagging elements or compounds.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
105 words
An immunoassay method for measurement of the content of a target antigen or antibody in a fluid or tissue specimen, which comprises coupling reagent antibody or antigen, which forms a complex with the target, with small tagged mobile units having tagging elements or compounds which are unassociated chemically with said reagent and are protected against reaction with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay, reacting the tagged mobile units coupled with antibody or antigen with the target antigen or antibody, separating the unreacted mobile units and measuring the number of reacted mobile units by detection of the tagging elements or compounds.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.8 μm.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.35 μm.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagged mobile units are smaller than 0.1 μm.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the mobile units have a size in the range from 0.1 μm to 0.008 μm.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method according to claim 24, 26 or 27, wherein said mobile units are latex particles.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagging elements or compounds are protected by being embedded within said latex particles.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
11 words
A method according to claim 30, wherein the latex is polystyrene.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 30, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by ion implantation into said latex particles.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
60 words
A method according to claim 30, wherein the tagging elements of compounds were embedded by vapor coating onto a portion of the surface of a latex particle, followed by further coating the vapor coated portion of the latex particle with an element or a compound which is non-reactive with the target and the biological and chemical environment of the assay.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 30, wherein the tagging elements or compounds were embedded by coating thin latex sheets with the tagging elements or compounds, pressing the coated surfaces of two sheets together to form a composite sheet and cutting the composite sheet with an electron or ion beam into particles.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the reagent antibody or antigen is tagged with heavy tagging elements which have an atomic weight in excess of 50.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagged mobile units carrying reagent antibody or antigen are sequentially introduced to the specimen for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagged mobile units carrying reagent antibody or antigen are introduced to the specimen in small increments for reaction with the target antigen or antibody.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein undesired agglutinator compounds are removed from the fluid or tissue containing target antigen or antibody before the reaction with tagged mobile units coupled with antibody or antigen.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method according to claim 38, wherein said agglutinator compounds are removed by contacting them with activated antibody conjugated to a latex matrix.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
58 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein said unreacted mobile units are separated by contacting the fluid or tissue with added antigen or antibody which is the same as the target antigen or antibody and is conjugated to a solid phase matrix, incubating for a short time, and separating said fluid or tissue from said solid phase matrix.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein after said separation of unreacted mobile units the remaining reacted mobile units are concentrated or agglutinated prior to detection of the tagging elements or compounds.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagging elements of the reacted mobile units are measured by X-ray fluorescence.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the tagging elements are radioactive and the number of reacted mobile units it measured by detection of radioactivity.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 42, wherein the measurement is compared with a calibration curve of known target antigen or antibody concentration plotted against X-ray fluorescence measurement.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to claim 42 of 43, wherein after the measurement the reacted mobile units are recovered for disposal or reprocessing for reuse.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
85 words
A method according to claim 24, wherein the contents of different target antigens or antibodies in said fluid or tissue are simultaneously measured by reacting with each different target tagged mobile units which have tagging elements or compounds specific to each target and which are coupled with antibody or antigen specific to each target, and measuring the number of reacted mobile units of each different complex in the same fluid or tissue specimen by detection of the different X-ray fluorescence of each different tagging element.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1987-03-13 | 1987-09-12 | 1988-03-13 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1991-03-13 | 1991-09-12 | 1992-03-13 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1995-03-13 | 1995-09-12 | 1996-03-13 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |