Catching protein antigens by antibody affinity electrophoresis

A new kind of affinity electrophoresis called antibody affinity electrophoresis is a technique used to capture protein antigens based on their interactions with specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies incorporated in the polyacrylamide gel. Polyclonal anti-glutathione-S-transferase (anti-GST), monoclonal anti-bovine serum albumin (anti-BSA), and polyclonal anti-human alpha-lactalbumin are embedded in distinct areas of a 7.5% native polyacrylamide gel. Some of the embedded antibodies get covalently and/or noncovalently incorporated into the gel matrix network. Under electrophoresis conditions, these antibodies do not show significant electrophoretic mobility, as compared to their specific protein antigen analytes. We observed that electrophoretic migration of GST, BSA, and protein G ceases when they encounter anti-GST, anti-BSA, and immunoglobulin G, respectively.