Pharmacokinetic immunoassay methods in the presence of soluble target

Soluble targets represent a special challenge when employing ligand binding assays to support pharmacokinetic analysis of monoclonal therapeutics. Target-engaged antibody is not available for binding in immunoassays employing anti-idiotype-specific antibodies or target for capture. We investigated several formats of total antibody assays that show reduced interference of soluble targets: direct target capture, indirect target capture and acid dissociation. While indirect target capture worked well for a regular affinity antibody against DKK1, a high affinity antibody against PCSK9 required an additional acid dissociation step. The choice of a suitable format was antibody and target dependent. Our results offer several choices to approach immunoassay development for soluble targets.