Immunoassays are laboratory techniques based on the detection of antibody production in response to foreign antigens.
Antibodies, part of the humoral immune response, are involved in pathogen detection and neutralization.
Serology is the study of blood serum and other bodily fluids for the identification of antibodies.
Precipitation reactions are serological assays for the detection of immunoglobulin levels from the serum of a patient with infection.
Agglutination reactions are used to assess the presence of antibodies in a specimen by mixing it with particulate antigens.
Neutralization reactions are used to inactivate viruses and evaluate neutralizing antibodies.
Complement fixation is a method that demonstrates antibody presence in patient serum.
Fluorescent antibodies are antibodies that have been tagged with a fluorescent compound to facilitate their detection in the laboratory.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a solid-phase enzyme immunoassay used to detect the presence of a substance in solution.
Immunoblot is a technique for analyzing proteins via antigen-antibody specific reactions.
Methods used to differentiate T cells and B cells include staining cell surface receptors and functional assays like the T lymphocyte cytotoxicity assay.
In vivo testing using animal models of disease help discover new ways of solving complex health problems.
The future of diagnostic immunology lies in the production of specific antibody-based assays and the development of improved vaccines.