Patent ID: 8809003

Claim:
A method for reducing false results in an assay measurement for determining a concentration of an analyte in a sample suspected of containing the analyte, the method comprising: (a) determining a measurement result 1 by means of an assay conducted on a portion of the sample where analyte in the sample is substantially sequestered by addition of a sequestering agent that does not interfere with reagents employed in the assay, wherein the amount of sequestering agent that is added to the sample is that which is sufficient to sequester the analyte so that signal obtained in an assay on the sample is representative solely of components in the sample and not of analyte, (b) determining a measurement result 2 by means of the assay conducted on another portion of the sample where analyte in the sample is substantially non-sequestered by addition of a releasing agent, wherein the assay comprises: (i) adding reagents for determining the concentration of the analyte in the sample to a medium comprising the sample of step (a) and to a medium comprising the sample of step (b) wherein the reagents comprise at least one antibody for the analyte, and (ii) measuring in step (a) an amount of a complex comprising the antibody for the analyte to determine measurement result 1 and measuring in step (b) an amount of a complex comprising the antibody for the analyte to determine measurement result 2, (c) subtracting measurement result 1 from measurement result 2 to determine the concentration of analyte in the sample.