This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: CVI.00310-06v1 14/6/720    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chen, Y.-P. Articles by Wang, Z. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chen, Y.-P. Articles by Wang, Z.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, June 2007, p. 720-725, Vol. 14, No. 6
1071-412X/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00310-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rapid Detection of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen by an Agglutination Assay Mediated by a Bispecific Diabody against Both Human Erythrocytes and Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen

Department of Dermatology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China,¹ Central Laboratory, Navy General Hospital, Beijing, China,² Peking University Hepatology Institute and Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China,³ Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing Institute for Cancer Research, Beijing, China⁴

Received 17 August 2006/ Returned for modification 20 December 2006/ Accepted 21 March 2007

Bispecific antibodies have immense potential for use in clinical applications. In the present study, a bispecific diabody against human red blood cells (RBCs) and hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) was used to detect HBsAg in blood specimens. The bispecific diabody was constructed by crossing over the variable region of the heavy chains and the light chains of anti-RBC and anti-HBsAg antibodies with a short linker, SRGGGS. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, this bispecific diabody showed specific binding to both RBCs and HBsAg. When this bispecific diabody was mixed with human blood specimens in the presence of HBsAg, the dual binding sites of the diabody caused agglutination of human RBCs. This diabody-mediated agglutination assay was then used to test 712 clinical blood specimens and showed 97.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity when the results were compared with those of the conventional immunoassay, which was used as a reference. This autologous RBC agglutination assay provides a simple approach for rapid screening for HBsAg in blood specimens.

Published ahead of print on 18 April 2007.