Monoclonal antibodies with equal specificity to D-dimer and high-molecular-weight fibrin degradation products

Fibrin degradation results in the formation of fibrin degradation products (FDPs) of different molecular weights, which include D-dimer. Commercial D-dimer assays recognize multiple forms of FDP with different specificity. As a result, the absence of an international D-dimer standard and the marked discrepancy in the D-dimer values in the same samples measured by assays from different manufacturers have become the primary problems that clinicians face in the D-dimer determination. We consider that an assay with equal specificity to all FDP forms regardless of their molecular weights could help to solve these problems. We aimed to produce mAbs that could equally recognize high-molecular-weight FDP (HMW FDP) and D-dimer. mAbs against D-dimer were produced. The HMW FDP/D-dimer ratios in plasma samples were analyzed following protein separation by gel filtration using the developed fluoroimmunoassay. A sandwich immunoassay with equal specificity to HMW FDP and D-dimer was developed and applied to determine HMW FDP/D-dimer ratios in patients with different diseases. Although the HMW FDP levels prevailed in thrombotic patients, the FDP and D-dimer levels were comparable in septic patients. Meanwhile, the D-dimer levels often exceeded the HMW FDP levels in patients who had undergone surgery. The ‘D-dimer’ levels that were detected by different assays also varied greatly depending on the assay specificities to FDP and D-dimer. Our findings show that the introduction of assays with equal specificities to FDP and D-dimer in clinical practice is a possible way of standardizing D-dimer measurements.