STUDIES ON ACTH-BINDING ANTIBODIES: CHARACTERIZATION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL SPECIFICITIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT In investigations on the production and the specificity of anti-ACTH antibodies used for radioimmunoassay, differences have been observed between the various antibodies obtained. It was shown by means of competitive inhibition with different ACTH fragments that the binding of the ACTH molecule to its antibody can occur at different sites along the ACTH peptide. By varying the concentrations of the fragments and the conditions of the assays, it was possible to study the properties of each antibody. Thus antibodies which bind the N-terminal portion, or which exclusively bind the biologically active part of the ACTH chain (1–20), are the most suitable for radioimmunoassay. It was found, however, that the production of antiserum was generally more frequent when binding occurred to the C-terminal portion of the ACTH peptide. Should the presence of such fragments in plasma be confirmed, then the use of these antisera could lead to erroneous measurement of biologically inactive ACTH fragments. Thus, this study reveals that a selection of the antibody for specificity might be necessary for its application to the radioimmunoassay of plasma ACTH, and that this selection could be performed with the use of ACTH fragments. An approach to the problem of binding sites between antigen and antibody has been described and the possibility of introducing a radioimmunoassay for plasma ACTH fragments discussed.