CELL DETECTION WITH CONJUGATES HAVING AN ENZYMATICALLY RELEASABLE DETECTION MOIETY

The invention is directed to a method for detecting a target moiety in a sample of biological specimens by: a) providing at least one conjugate with the general formula (I) X n - P - Y m , with X is an detection moiety, P an enzymatically degradable spacer and Y an antigen recognizing moiety and n, m are integers between 1 and 100 and wherein X and Y are covalently bound to P, b) contacting the sample of biological specimens with at least one conjugate, thereby labeling the target moiety recognized by the antigen recognizing moiety Y c) detecting the target moiety labeled with the conjugate with the detecting moiety X and d) enzymatically degrading spacer P, thereby cleaving the detection moiety X from the conjugate. The method is useful to identify target moieties on the biological specimens. The biological specimens detected by the conjugate can be subsequently removed from the sample.