A sensitive radioimmunoassay for detection of antibodies to recombinant human interferon-alpha A

A radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the detection of antibodies to recombinant human leukocyte interferon A (rHuIFN-alpha A) in human serum has been developed and validated against the standard antiviral neutralization bioassay (ANB). The assay measures the binding of 125I-labeled rHuIFN-alpha A to immunoglobulins in serum. Aliquots of patients' sera are incubated with 125I-rHuIFN-alpha A and the complexes formed between antibodies in the sera and the 125I-rHuIFN-alpha A are precipitated with goat anti-human IgG serum. The radioactivity in the immune precipitate is a measure of the quantity of antibody (if present) in the serum. The sensitivity of this RIA is 5 ng of IgG/ml of serum.