Evaluation of fibrinolytic capacity by a combined assay system for tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen and function using monoclonal anti-tissue-type plasminogen activator antibodies.

An assay system has been developed that allows consecutive quantification of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity and t-PA antigen in the same plasma sample. In the first step t-PA is bound to an immobilized IgM monoclonal anti-t-PA antibody and functional activity of bound t-PA is quantified by its plasminogen-activating activity. In the second step the amount of bound t-PA antigen is determined by using a different peroxidase-labeled monoclonal anti-t-PA antibody. In this combined assay system t-PA functional activity was found to depend not only on the amount of t-PA antigen but also on the amount of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI), whereas in the t-PA antigen assay PAI did not affect the results. In plasma samples obtained from normal controls t-PA activity was detected only in post-venous occlusion plasma (3.7 +/- 2.5 IU/ml), whereas 2.7 +/- 0.5 ng/ml t-PA antigen was found before and 12.6 +/- 4.4 ng/ml after venous occlusion. Using this combined assay system to study plasma samples from patients who did not respond to venous occlusion with shortening of the euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLT), it was possible not only to confirm that in none of these patients could t-PA activity be detected in the postocclusion plasma samples but also to subdivide that group of patients into a group of about 39% not reacting with normal t-PA antigen release to venous occlusion and into a second group of about 61% that reacted with normal t-PA antigen release.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)