A new sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Alemtuzumab determination: development, validation and application

Alemtuzumab is a humanized (IgG(1)) rat monoclonal antibody to CD52 antigen and is currently used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and other CD52-positive lymphoproliferative disorders. Various techniques have been developed to measure Alemtuzumab levels in human serum/ plasma. The authors report on the validation of a very sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure serum concentrations of the humanized IgG(1) using a rabbit polyclonal antibody specifically produced against the rat sequence of Alemtuzumab after papain digestion. The assay was successfully applied to test the serum samples of patients with 13-lymphocyte CLL who received Alemtuzumab subcutaneously. This ELISA assay could be easily used to determine human serum levels of Alemtuzumab pre- and post-treatment to optimize dosing and scheduling and to study the relationship between dose and clinical response.