Patent ID: 7510881

Claim:
A method for quantitatively and/or qualitatively detecting one or more components in one or more samples, said component capable of binding to a probe, comprising the steps in the following order: a) applying onto a solid support i) one or more samples comprising components to be detected or ii) one or more probes, b) incubating the solid support of step a) with: i) one or more tagged probes, in the case where the solid support has one or more samples comprising components to be detected applied thereon, or ii) sample comprising tag-labeled components to be detected, in the case where the solid support has one or more probes applied thereon, said incubating followed by a wash step, c) incubating the solid support with a monoclonal or polyclonal antibody directed against the tag of step b), said antibody raised in species A and said antibody is labeled with metal particles of average diameter between 0.6 nm and 40 nm, followed by a wash step, d) incubating the solid support with an antibody conjugate, said conjugate comprising: one or more antibodies, anti-A, directed against immunoglobulins of species A, and one or more antibodies, anti-B, directed against immunoglobulins of species B, said incubating followed by a wash step, e) incubating the solid support with a polypeptide capable of recognition by anti-B antibodies, said polypeptide labeled with one or more substances which directly or indirectly cause a quantitative color change compared with the solid support, f) incubating the solid support with a metal enhancement reagent, and g) reading the solid support to quantitatively and/or qualitatively detect said components.