Development of a monoclonal antibody-based sandwich ELISA for the detection of ovalbumin in foods

Hen egg is one of the most frequent causes of food allergy in infants and adults. Ovalbumin (OVA) has been identified as a major egg allergen. In order to detect OVA in foods, a highly sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) was established. The 2 mAbs were selected out of 17 murine hybridomas secreting OVA-specific antibody. Using mAb17 as the capture antibody and mAb15 as the detection antibody, the detection limit of the ELISA method was 0.51 ng/mL, and the linear dynamic range was between 1.95 and 500 ng/mL. The recovery ranged from 85.6 to 115.2%, whereas the intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were less than 8.6 and 13.9%, respectively. Sample analysis verified that the produced anti-OVA mAb and the developed ELISA may provide a valuable tool for the sensitive determination of OVA in processed foods and for future studies on the mechanism of how OVA functions in anaphylaxis.