Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin.

A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for measuring Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin. This assay was 500 to 1,000 times more sensitive than the commonly used hemolytic titration assay and was less variable. The binding of alpha-toxin to the adsorbed antibody was most effective after an overnight incubation at 27 degrees C. The toxin was detectable even at a log2 17 dilution of an S. aureus culture supernatant.