Interferon-alpha (IFN-α) is produced by multiple cell types in response to viral infection and constitutes an important part of the innate immune response. There are multiple human IFN-α genes of which at least 13 are transcribed. This results in 12 different functional IFN-α subtype proteins since IFN-α 1 and IFN-α 13 are identical. The IFN-α subtypes display high homology with each other but differ to various extents with regard to the type of producer cells and their anti-viral capacity. The subtype specificity of antibodies to IFN-α differs and needs to be defined for each antibody or for each capture/detection antibody combination. The pan specific system is based on multiple antibodies to detect 11 out of 12 IFN-α subtypes (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16 and 17).
All kits include a recombinant cytokine standard calibrated against an international standard (NIBSC).
Cross-reactivity has been assessed and confirmed with certain non-human primate species.
ELISA kit for quantitative determination of all human IFN-α subtypes except subtype 21 in biological fluids such as serum, plasma and cell culture supernatants. The kit contains capture mAbs MT1/3/5, biotinylated detection mAbs MT2/4/6, streptavidin-enzyme conjugate HRP and a cytokine standard. The determination of IFN-α in human serum/plasma samples by this kit requires the use of ELISA diluent (code: 3652-D2) for dilution of samples, standard and detection antibody.