ELISA for human IgG and IgM anti-lipopolysaccharide antibodies with indirect standardization

A new attempt to standardize ELISAs for the quantitation of human IgM and IgG anti-lipopolysaccharide antibodies (anti-LPS), without the use of a specific standard material, is described. Sandwich ELISAs for total IgG and IgM were combined with indirect ELISAs for anti-LPS IgG and IgM antibodies on a 96-well microtest plate using identical assay conditions. The concentration of specific IgG or IgM anti-LPS was read on the respective standard curve for total IgG or IgM. The results were corrected for residual immunoreactivity remaining unbound in the wells after one sample incubation in the combined assays. The quantitative results of IgG anti-LPS correlated well with results obtained using an ELISA with direct standardization (r = 0.969). 28 mg/l of IgM anti-LPS was found as median value among 121 blood donors using the described ELISA principle. Binding studies demonstrated a lower apparent affinity of donor anti-LPS IgM than anti-IgG.