Kinetics of antibody binding to solid-phase-immobilised antigen. Effect of diffusion rate limitation and steric interaction.

The binding of monoclonal antibodies to surface-immobilised antigen was studied. Antibodies against dinitrophenyl-benzene and O6-ethyl-2'-deoxyguanosine with a known affinity for the antigen were used. The amount of bound antibodies was measured by ellipsometry with an accuracy of +/- 0.15 pmol/cm2, and a sensitivity of 0.11 pmol/cm2. The binding rate of the initial antibody binding could become diffusion rate limited, and the binding rate at surface concentrations above 1 pmol/cm2 was affected by steric interaction between bound antibodies. Bound antibodies did not dissociate when rinsed with saline for up to 20 h, but dissociated in the presence of antigen (0.1 mM). The dissociation rate did not follow any identifiable rate constant. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical models of the kinetics of antigen-antibody reactions at solid-liquid interfaces.