Micro-plate magnetic chemiluminescence immunoassay and its applications in carcinoembryonic antigen analysis

A micro-plate magnetic chemiluminescence immunoassay was developed for rapid and high throughput detection of carcinoembryonic antigens (CEA) in human sera. This method was based on a sandwich immunoreaction of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled anti-CEA antibodies, CEA antigens, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated anti-CEA antibodies in micro-plate. The immunomagnetic particles coated with anti-FITC antibodies were used as the solid phase for the immunoassay. The separation procedure was carried out by a magnetic plate adaptor and the luminol-hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-HRP system was employed for the chemiluminescence detection. The proposed method combined the advantages of the micro-plate reactor and magnetic particle separation technology with the linear range of 5-250 ng mL(-1). The detection limit of CEA was 0.61 ng mL(-1). The coefficient of the variation was less than 7% and 13% for intra-assay and inter-assay precision, respectively. Compared with the commercial micro-plate chemiluminescent kit, the proposed method showed a good correlation.