[Properties of enzymes for enzyme immunoassay]

Enzyme selection is very important to establish enzyme immunoassay system. The appropriate enzyme selected to label an immunochemical reagent must have certain qualities as follows: 1) highly purified and high specific activity, 2) inexpensive, 3) stable during conjugation and for a long time in a proper storage condition, 4) easily conjugated, measured, and applied to highly sensitive assay. Several enzymes fulfill most of the above requirements and have been successfully used in enzyme immunoassay. These are horseradish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, beta-galactosidase, glucose oxidase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, etc. As for enzyme activity measuring procedures, chemiluminescence and bioluminescence assays generally exhibit more sensitive detection limits than fluorescent or colorimetric assays. In the future, ultrasensitive luminescent assays and production of excellent recombinant enzymes are expected.