Antigen binding in the two-site immunoradiometric assay for serum ferritin: the nature of the hook effect

The two stages of a two-site immunoradiometric assay were investigated separately. In the first stage, the amount of ferritin bound to coated tubes initially showed a rapid increase with increasing concentration of added ferritin. This was followed by a plateau and then a further increase which appeared to be largely due to non-specific binding. During the second stage, a significant proportion of the bound ferritin dissociated from the solid phase and sequestered some of the labelled antibody in solution. Thus less antibody was available to bind to ferritin attached to the tube, causing a decrease in count rate at high ferritin concentrations. The use of a monoclonal antibody for coating the tubes did not eliminate this hook effect.