ELISA Full Form
ELISA is also called enzyme-connected immunosorbent assay, also known as EIA. It is a test to diagnose the disease which detects and measures antibodies in your blood. This test may be used to discover if you have antibodies (proteins that our body produces in response to dangerous substances called antigens) associated with certain infectious diseases like,
- AIDS
- Lyme disease
- Syphilis
- Rotavirus
- Toxoplasmosis
Introduction
The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a very sensitive technique for detecting and quantifying a wide range of substances, which includes antibodies, antigens, proteins, glycoproteins, and hormones.
Antibodies and antigens are combined to get a quantifiable outcome in the detection of these products. An antibody is a kind of protein generated by the immune system of a person. Antigen-binding regions are mostly found in this protein type. An antigen is a protein that can come from a variety of places and, when attached to an antibody, triggers a chain of actions in the immune system.
In ELISA testing, this interaction is usually used to detect particular protein antibodies and antigens using only a small quantity of a test sample.
Main Steps of Elisa
- Coating either with antigen or antibody
- Washing the plates to remove any possible unbound antigen, antibody or BSA. Generally, each addition process is followed by a wash step.
- Blocking can also be done with anyone from bovine serum albumin, non-fat dry milk, casein, and gelatine which is in Phosphate buffered saline (PBS).
- Detection of signal
Role in Life Science
- Antibodies in The Blood: Detecting and measuring the presence of autoantibodies, antibodies against infectious disease (antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal), hepatitis a, b, c, HIV, etc.
- Tumour Marker Levels Detection and Estimation- Prostate-unique antigen (PSA), Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) detection and estimation.
- Detection and estimation of hormone stages like human chorionic gonadotropin, Luteinizing hormone, Follicular stimulating hormone, Prolactin, Testosterone
- Detection of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, HIV, Hepatitis etc.
- Screening for viral contaminants in donated blood.
- Detection of medication like Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, and Cocaine etc.
- Blood typing and pregnancy detection.
