Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) Antigen ELISA

>Background:Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) belongs to the family of retroviruses, the subfamily of the oncoviruses, and can cause leukemia, anemia and tumours in various organs. The virus is particularly sensitive to environmental influences and can be inactivated by heat, sunlight and the use of disinfectants. For the routine diagnosis of a FeLV infection, the p27 antigen detection is mainly used. The p27 antigen is an antigen that can be detected in serum, plasma, saliva, bone marrow, and in all infected tissues of a FeLV-infected cat. The p27 antigen matters 25-50 % of the particle mass of the virus. The transmission of the virus occurs through excretions (saliva, excrement, nasal secretion, milk) of FeLV-infected cats. It affects mainly cats that absorb the infectious material through the mucous membranes and wounds. Direct contact between two cats, for example, during hunting or during cleaning, presents the main infectious source. In infected mother animals, pregnancy generally ends with the death of kittens, death birth or the birth of infected, weak kittens. Kittens are particularly susceptible to FeLV infection. With increasing age they can develop a resistance against the virus. Cat leukemia is a common infection disease worldwide that can be fatal. FeLV infections can take very different disease forms that are associated with nonspecific symptoms, which make a reliable diagnosis more difficult. Healthy cats can also include and transmit pathogens.

Description:
The qualitative immunoenzymatic determination of specific antigens is based on the ELISA (Enzymelinked Immunosorbent Assay) technique. Microtiterplates are coated with specific antibodies to bind corresponding antigens of the sample. After washing the wells to remove all unbound sample material a horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labelled antibody conjugate is added. This conjugate binds to the captured antigens. In a second washing step unbound conjugate is removed. The immune complex formed by the bound conjugate is visualized by adding Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate which gives a blue reaction product. The intensity of this product is proportional to the amount of specific antigens in the sample. Sulphuric acid is added to stop the reaction. This produces a yellow endpoint colour. Absorbance at 450/620 nm is read using an ELISA microwell plate reader.

Product features:
The kit contains reagents for 96 determinations;
Microtiter plate consisting of 12x8 (breakapart);
Microtiter plate reader at 450/620 nm;
Cut-off: 10 U.