Use of Immunomatrix Methods to Improve Protein-Protein Interaction Detection

Immunoprecipitation (IP) and coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) are key techniques for studying protein-protein interactions. These methods utilize immobilized protein A or protein G to isolate antibody-bound target antigens. The main disadvantage of traditional immunoprecipitation and coimmunoprecipitation is that the conditions used to elute the precipitated antigen also release the antibody, contaminating the antigen and destroying the antibody support. To overcome these problems, we describe two methods to generate a reusable antibody support by cross-linking the antibody to immobilized protein A or protein G, or by coupling it directly to the resin. Our studies have demonstrated that the immobilization efficiency for the antibody coupling method was similar for several species of antibody. Furthermore, we illustrate that using both methods of antibody immobilization yields IP and co-IP results similar to traditional protocols but eliminates the antibody heavy and light chains contamination.