Development and Use of Antibodies in Surface Plasmon Resonance-Based Immunosensors for Environmental Monitoring

The interaction between antibody and antigen is characterised by relatively high affinity and specificity, making this type of reaction a prime candidate for use as an analytical tool. The interaction may be combined with biosensors in the production of immunosensors for environmental monitoring. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have had a significant impact in analytical detection systems over the past few decades with antibody fragments becoming important in recent years. Production of antibodies to small haptens requires the initial conjugation of hapten to a larger carrier molecule. Once hapten-carrier conjugates have been produced, polyclonal, monoclonal and various antibody fragments may be produced by differing protocols. A critical step in the production of antibody fragments is the development of efficient screening procedures to identify suitable antibody-producing clones and this has been reviewed in this article. Various antibody types may then be used in the generation of immunosensors for the monitoring of environmental pollutants. The selection of the appropriate sensor technology applicable for the determination of an antibody-antigen interaction is of prime importance for immunosensor development. One example of such an application is surface plasmon resonance-based biosensors, as they provide real-time analysis of interactions between the antibody and antigen of interest.