[Preparation of an anti-cotinine monoclonal antibody and its application in immunological detection]

To prepare monoclonal antibody against cotinine (COT) and to establish immunoassay for detecting COT in human urinary samples.

BALB/c mice were immunized with synthesized cotinine-bovine serum albumin (COT-BSA) to screen monoclonal antibody with technique of cell fusion. The monoclonal antibody was used for the indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) and colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip assay for the detection of COT in human urine.

The monoclonal antibody against COT was identified by ic-ELISA with a 50%inhibitive concentration (IC₅₀) value of 21 ng/mL; and it was also identified by colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip assay with a cut-off value of 100 ng/mL. For ic-ELISA, the range of detection was 0-100 ng/mL with a minimal limit of 0.1 ng/mL; the recovery of assay was 99.41%-117.98%, and the intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient variations were not higher than 15.31%and 15.07%, respectively. For colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip assay, the accuracy of stability and repeatability both were 100%.

The ic-ELISA and colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip assay using the prepared monoclonal antibody against COT have been proved to be reliable for the rapid detection of COT in human urines, which may be used for monitoring of environmental tobacco smoke.