Novel routine assay of thyroperoxidase autoantibodies

This radioimmunoassay was developed for specific and large-scale routine measurement of autoantibodies to thyroperoxidase (TPO), an enzyme recently identified as the thyroid microsomal antigen. Because of the scarcity of purified thyroperoxidase, we did not base the assay on the antigen-coated method but rather on autoantibody inhibition of the binding of labeled TPO to a solid-phase-bound monoclonal antibody to TPO. This assay design ensured highly specific measurements without interference from irrelevant thyroid antigens and autoantibodies. When we used affinity-purified autoantibodies to TPO as standards, the range of the curve extended over 10(3)-fold differences in the autoantibodies' concentrations, which allowed us to assay most sera without dilution. Within- and between-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) ranged from 6.1% to 11.5% and from 6.6% to 12.0%, respectively. The correlation between anti-TPO and antimicrosomal autoantibodies, as assessed by hemagglutination test, was highly significant (r = 0.90, P less than 0.0001). This assay is sensitive, easy to perform, and requires only trace amounts of purified TPO.