Patent ID: 7101683

Claim:
A method for simultaneously detecting the presence of at least one HCV antigen and at least one HCV antibody in a test sample comprising the steps of: (a) contacting said test sample with: 1) at least one HCV antigen or portion thereof coated on a solid phase, for a time and under conditions sufficient for the formation of antibody/antigen complexes and 2) at least one HCV antibody coated on said solid phase, for a time and under conditions sufficient for the formation of antigen/antibody complexes, wherein said at least one antibody coated on said solid phase is C11-14; (b) adding a conjugate to the resulting antibody/antigen complexes of (a)(1) for a time and under conditions sufficient to allow said conjugate to bind to the bound antibody in (a)(1), wherein said conjugate comprises a second antibody attached to a chemiluminescent compound capable of generating a detectable signal, and simultaneously adding a second conjugate to the resulting antigen/antibody complexes of (a)(2) for a time and under conditions sufficient to allow said conjugate to bind to the bound antigen in (a)(2), wherein said second conjugate comprises a third antibody attached to said chemiluminescent compound capable of generating a detectable signal, wherein said third antibody is C11-10; and (c) detecting a single generated signal, presence of said signal indicating presence of said at least one HCV antigen, at least one HCV antibody, or both, in said test sample.