Micro-ELISA for the quantitation of human urinary IgG

When investigating glomerular changes in the early stages of diabetic renal disease, it is important to be able to estimate low concentrations of urinary immunoglobulins, as well as the albumin/immunoglobulin ratio. For this reason there is a need for highly sensitive and specific routine assays for urinary immunoglobulins. A 'sandwich' enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) for the quantitation of urinary immunoglobulin G is described, in which microtest plates are used as the solid phase. The assay is specific, sensitive and simple, and only used commercially available reagents. The assay range was 5-200 micrograms/l. The relative standard deviations within and between assays were 5 and 9%, respectively. Recovery of IgG added to urine was 100-102% (n = 12), and dilution of urine was linear. The assay range allowed for the quantitation of IgG in human urine samples, covering the clinical range from physiological to raised pathological values.