The present invention relates to a chimeric target molecule having an
activity which can be regulated or modulated by a binding molecule. The
invention also relates to methods of using the chimeric target molecule
to detect the presence and/or amount of a desired analyte in a sample.
The analyte is a binding molecule, or a competitor of a binding molecule,
which binding molecule, upon binding to the target molecule, alters the
activity of the target molecule in a detectable way. In one aspect of the
invention, a binding molecule binds to the chimeric molecule,
inactivating it. An analyte in a test sample competes and/or displaces
the binding molecule from the chimera, reactivating it. The reappearance
of activity in the presence of the analyte indicates its existence in the
test sample existence and amount. Another aspect of the invention relates
to a binding molecule which regulates a chimeric target molecule and
methods of producing it.