Enzyme immunoassay for quantification of tenascin in biologic samples.

An enzyme immunoassay was developed for quantification of tenascin in biologic samples. An enzyme conjugate prepared by coupling peroxidase to a well-characterized, affinity-purified monoclonal antibody EB2 to human tenascin was used as principal reagent. The assay comprises 96-well microtitration strip plates with immobilized monoclonal antibody DB7 to human tenascin. By using a novel monoclonal antibody suppressing human-anti-mouse-factor, MAK33, in the sample buffer, the specificity of the test could be improved. The method has a minimum detectable sensitivity of 1.5 ng tenascin and permits determination of tenascin in various biologic samples. The coefficients of variation within run and between run ranged from 0.9% to 5.0%. The average tenascin concentration in normal plasma was 0.97 mg/L (n = 200) and in serum 0.73 mg/L (n = 200). The tenascin concentrations were also determined in samples of urine, bile, amniotic fluid, seminal fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, and pleural fluid showing general applicability of the assay. The method permits the determination of tenascin in samples of different body fluids from various diseases, including cancer, showing increased amounts of the protein at the tissue level.