Development of Immunological Methods for Analysis of 5' -deoxy-5' -methylthioadenosine

Studies were undertaken to develop a competitive radioimmunoassay (RIA) and indirect antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the determination of 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (MTA), which is formed from decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine by spermidine and spermine synthase. Specific antiserum against MTA was raised in rabbits by immunization with MTA-BSA which was prepared by coupling BSA to oxidized MTA with periodate. Since MTA is oxidized easily to the sulfoxide, the sulfhydryl reagent, DTT. was added to the immunogen. For RIA, immunocomplexes were separated from free MTA by using ammonium sulfate precipitation. The antiserum showed almost no cross-reactivity with a variety of other nucleotides and riboses. But, the level of cross-reactivity of 5'-isobutylthioadenosine (SIBA) was high. These results showed the importance of hydrophobicity adjacent to the 5'-OH for determining antigenicity. The lower limit of detection by this assay was 100 fmol of MTA per tube. Using this assay. MTA levels were more easily and precisely determined in biological samples when compared with HPLC analysis. The RIA procedure is less time consuming. More than 24 analyses can be carried out in 2 h and required only a very small amount of sample ($20{\mu}l$ serum). In ELISA, biotin conjugated MTA-BSA was used as the labelled MTA. The sensitivity limit of this assay was lower than 100 pmol.