Anti-hapten antibodies

Anti-hapten antibodies enable the detection of small molecules using robust and rapid immunodetection technologies, such as ELISA and IHC/IF. Either raised against endogenous small molecules (amino acid metabolites, lipids, saccharids, nucleotides, steroids, …) or exogenous compounds (drug and pesticide residues, chemical pollutants,…), anti-hapten antibodies constitute attractive detection tools in the field of human health, for diagnostic and theranostic applications, but also in areas such as food safety and environmental monitoring.

Specialized the development of anti-hapten antibodies, ImmuSmol offers custom services for the detection of small molecules in biological samples.

Custom development of polyclonal or monoclonal anti-hapten antibodies

1: Antigen design

Haptens are non-immunogenic small molecules which can only induce the production of antibodies when attached to a protein carrier. Based on the immuno-chemical properties of your target small molecule (chemical structure and composition, immunogenicity, competitors), our team develops specific “presentation strategies”: cross-linking between the hapten and its protein carrier must expose the small molecule in a way that triggers the desired antibody response.

2: Anti-hapten antibody production

Once synthesized, the hapten-carrier conjugate it is injected into a living animal for antibody production. ImmuSmol can either produce monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies:

• Anti-hapten mouse monoclonal antibodies – produced in vitro by a single immortalized cell clone, monoclonal antibodies are tailored for industrial applications, ensuring high reproducibility, availability and scalability. More about this service…
• Anti-hapten rabbit polyclonal antibodies – directly purified from rabbit serum 6 weeks after the first injection, polyclonals antibodies represent a fast and cost-effective approach, particularly suited for research applications. More about this service…

Method development and validation for small molecule detection

ImmuSmol can assist its clients in the development of quantitative or qualitative methods for small molecule detection, including:

• Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Immunofluorescence (IF)
• ELISA & EIA
• Flow cytometry
• Western blotting
• …

See our case study for L-Kynurenine

Please contact us for more information