Immunoaffinity extraction. A custom-made pretreatment tool with high selectivity in biomedical analyses (Review)

An overview of immunoaffinity extraction, which is a highly selective and efficient sample pretreatment method in biomedical analyses, is given mainly fi om a practical aspect. Essential techniques for developing an extraction system, such as the production and immobilization of an antibody having suitable specificity, are described in detail. Some recent remarkable applications of immunoaffinity extraction, linked with an analytical procedure based on immunoassay or chromatography for determining hormones or drug metabolites in biological fluids, are also surveyed.