Correlation between a sandwich ELISA and an in-vitro bioassay for erythropoietin in human plasma

A sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human erythropoietin (EPO) using two anti-EPO monoclonal antibodies has been compared with an in-vitro EPO bioassay based on CFU-E colony formation in fetal mouse liver cell cultures. In normal subjects and non-uraemic anaemic patients the plasma EPO values estimated with the ELISA correlated well with those by the bioassay, and also inversely with the values of blood Hb, PCV and RBC counts. Dose-response curves for plasma and standard recombinant human EPO in the ELISA were parallel to each other. These results further confirm the validity for the ELISA in measuring circulating human EPO.