A rapid whole-blood immunoassay system.

A new immunoassay system has been developed which allows the detection of circulating antigens, antibodies or drugs in whole blood without specialized personnel or equipment. This is achieved by the use of bispecific reagents, which comprise specific antibodies or antigens that are coupled to a non-agglutinating antierythrocyte antibody. Within two minutes, these reagents cause specific agglutination of a patient's own red cells in samples that contain the relevant analyte. Levels of low molecular weight haptens also can be measured by the use of an indirect, agglutination-inhibition assay. This simple immunoassay method would fulfil the needs of many physicians and Third-World countries and also has mass-screening and veterinary applications.