Immunoassay of serine-phosphorylated isoform of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein (IGFBP)-1

Abstract Objectives: Development of an ELISA for phosphorylated isoform of IGFBP-1. Serine phosphorylation is an important regulator of IGFBP-1 bioactivity, but specific immunoassays for its measurement are currently lacking. Design and methods: Assay design was based on a novel approach of first capturing the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated IGFBP-1 by an anti-IGFBP-1 antibody and then selectively detecting the phosphorylated form by an anti-phosphoserine antibody. Method development involved pair-wise evaluation of the candidate antibodies and determinations of analytical performance and specificity. Specificity was monitored by reactivity with dephosphorylated IGFBP-1, with antibodies against other phosphorylated residues that are not expressed, and by comparative analysis of sample containing different IGFBP-1 phosphorylation profile. Results: Analytical evaluation demonstrated acceptable performance; detection limit 0.3 μg/L, dynamic range 1.56–100 μg/L; intra- and inter-assay CVs 2.1–8.6%; mean recovery (± SD) 97.8 ± 9.2%, and mean recovery of sample dilution 93.4 ± 6.0%. The phosphorylated and total IGFBP-1 medians in non-pregnant adult serum, which mostly contain the highly phosphorylated isoform, were 11.9 and 18.6 μg/L, respectively, and the sample values were tightly correlated ( r  = 0.99). As expected, the corresponding medians in 1st trimester (17.4 and 63.0 μg/L) and 2nd trimester (30.9 and 75.8) samples with altered IGFBP-1 phosphorylation were significantly different ( p Conclusions: The present ELISA is highly specific for the phosphorylated isoform of IGFBP-1 and its availability should help expedite further investigations of IGFBP-1 phosphorylation.