ANTICUERPOS PARA USO EN LA DETERMINACION DE LA GLUCOALBUMINA HUMANA

Monoclonal antibodies specific for the glycosylated lysine residue at position 525 in glycoalbumin and a method for producing such antibodies. The monoclonal antibodies are useful as reagents in immunoassays for the specific determination of glycoalbumin in human blood samples which is indicative of the severity of the diabetic condition. The monoclonal antibodies are secreted by hybridomas obtained by fusing a myeloma cell with a lymphocyte that has been taken from an animal, usually a mouse, immunized with a peptide immunogen and which produces antibody to the lysine 525 residue in glycoalbumin. The synthetic peptide immunogen comprises a peptide residue which includes an -amino glucosylated lysine and an adjacent amino acid sequence in which at least one of the amino acid units is in a position corresponding to the peptide sequence of human albumin adjacent to lysine 525, the glycosylated peptide residue being linked to an immunogenic carrier.