Development of Sandwich ELISA and Immunochromatographic Strip for the Detection of Peanut Allergen Ara h 2

In order to develop highly sensitive immunoassays for detecting the major peanut allergen, Ara h 2, we prepared six monoclonal antibodies (mAb) with high affinity to Ara h 2. Using mAb 5 as a capture antibody and HRP-labeled mAb 1 as a detection antibody, a sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) was established with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.02 ng/mL. An immunochromatographic strip based on these two mAbs was also established with a LOD of 1 ng/mL. Both tests showed high specificity in cross-reactivity experiments. Sample analyses indicated that these two immunoassays were feasible, accurate, and highly sensitive for measuring allergen Ara h 2 of food.