Editing ELISA (section)

===Competitive===
A third use of ELISA is through competitive binding. The steps for this ELISA are somewhat different from the first two examples:

Unlabeled antibody is incubated in the presence of its antigen (sample).
# These bound antibody/antigen complexes are then added to an antigen-coated well.
# The plate is washed, so unbound antibodies are removed. (The more antigen in the sample, the more Ag-Ab complexes are formed and so there are less unbound antibodies available to bind to the antigen in the well, hence "competition".)
# The [[secondary antibody]], specific to the primary antibody, is added. This second antibody is coupled to the enzyme.
# A substrate is added, and remaining enzymes elicit a chromogenic or fluorescent signal.
# The reaction is stopped to prevent eventual saturation of the signal.

Some competitive ELISA kits include enzyme-linked antigen rather than enzyme-linked antibody. The labeled antigen competes for primary antibody binding sites with the sample antigen (unlabeled). The less antigen in the sample, the more labeled antigen is retained in the well and the stronger the signal.

Commonly, the antigen is not first positioned in the well.

For the detection of HIV antibodies, the wells of microtiter plate are coated with the HIV antigen. Two specific antibodies are used, one conjugated with enzyme and the other present in serum (if serum is positive for the antibody). Cumulative competition occurs between the two antibodies for the same antigen, causing a stronger signal to be seen. Sera to be tested are added to these wells and incubated at 37&nbsp;°C, and then washed. If antibodies are present, the antigen-antibody reaction occurs. No antigen is left for the enzyme-labelled specific HIV antibodies. These antibodies remain free upon addition and are washed off during washing. Substrate is added, but there is no enzyme to act on it, so a positive result shows no color change.