Effective purification of human chorionic gonadotropin and production of highly specific polyclonal anti-ßHCG as a component of radioimmunoassay kit.

This study aimed to purify human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) from the urine of pregnant women with high biological activity (10811 IU/mg) and purity (98.2%), by simple capturing of HCG using DEAE Sepharose FF and polishing using Sephacryl S200 HR. The HCG obtained was characterized by SDS-PAGE and dissociated into alpha and beta subunits using the urea treatment method. The ßHCG subunits were injected into rabbits for the production of highly specific polyclonal anti-ßHCG antisera. The polyclonal anti-ßHCG was locally produced in rabbits and assessed for binding titer (1/10000), displacement (84.8%), and specificity (98.8%). Purified HCG along with locally prepared polyclonal anti-ßHCG antisera were used as basic components of the in-house Radioimmunoassay system for quantitative estimation of HCG in human serum.