Description
Introduction: Heparan sulfate (HS) is a linear polysaccharide found in all animal tissues. It occurs as a proteoglycan (PG) in which two or three HS chains are attached in close proximity to cell surface or extracellular matrix proteins. It is in this form that HS binds to a variety of protein ligands and regulates a wide variety of biological activities, including developmental processes, angiogenesis, blood coagulation and tumour metastasis. HS has been shown to serve as cellular receptor for a number of viruses including the respiratory syncytial virus.
Principle of the Assay: This assay employs the competitive inhibition enzyme immunoassay technique. An antibody specific to HS has been pre-coated onto a microplate. Standards or samples are added to the appropriate microtiter plate wells with HRP-conjugated HS and incubated. A competitive inhibition reaction is launched between HS (Standards or samples) and HRP-conjugated HS with the pre-coated antibody specific for HS. The more amount of HS in samples, the less antibody bound by HRP-conjugated HS. Then the substrate solutions are added to the wells, respectively. And the color develops in opposite to the amount of HS in the sample. The color development is stopped and the intensity of the color is measured