Chemiluminescence technology in immunoassays

Abstract

Nearly 40 years has passed since the introduction of the radioimmunoassay (RIA), an extraordinarily valuable tool that has yielded many excellent, sensitive, and specific diagnostic tests for the clinical laboratory. But the radioactive tracer component used in RIAs creates limitations due to short reagent shelf life, licensing issues, and disposal problems. Most of the proposed alternatives to the radionuclides have had little success, primarily because of low sensitivity, low stability, and size restrictions. Today, chemiluminescent reactions have supplanted most of the RIAs in the clinical laboratory. This relatively simple, cost-effective technology has sensitivity at least as good as that of the RIA, a long shelf life, and a wide range of applications. It is being pursued as the technology of choice by most major immunodiagnostic companies.