Development of magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence immunoassay for measurement of human procalcitonin in serum

Preparation and application evaluation of monoclonal antibodies against Monkeypox virus A29 protein

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is a DNA virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family. It causes symptoms similar to Smallpox virus and is a zoonotic virus with widespread prevalence. Antigen detection is a fast and effective detection method. The MPXV A29 protein not only plays an important role in the virus lifecycle but also serves as a promising target for developing specific antibodies, which have significant potential for application in the diagnosis of MPXV. The coding sequences of the MPXV A29 protein, Cowpox virus (CPXV) 163 protein homolog and Vaccinia virus (VACV) A27 protein homolog were chemically synthesized, and all three recombinant proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli (BL21 Star). Then, the recombinant A29 protein was used as an antigen to immunize BALB/c mice, and a total of 4 monoclonal antibodies against A29 protein were obtained. Using two homologous proteins as reverse screening systems, a specific monoclonal antibody, mAb-25, against the A29 protein was screened. Then, the mAb-25 was used as a coating antibody to pair with other monoclonal antibodies, leading to the identification of a well-matched antibody pair. A chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) and immunochromatographic gold assay were subsequently established using the optimal antibody pair. The experimental results indicate that monoclonal antibodies against the A29 protein hold significant potential for application in the diagnosis of MPXV.

Development of a chemiluminescent immunoassay based on magnetic solid phase for quantification of homocysteine in human serum

BACKGROUND

Homocysteine (HCY) is a sulfur-containing amino acid that is an independent or important risk factor for the occurrence of many chronic diseases and is one of the most important indicators for determining health risks. However, existing HCY detection methods do not meet the requirements of clinical diagnosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish new detection methods to meet the needs of clinical detection.

RESULTS

In this study, we used the principle of competitive method to establish a new method for the determination of HCY in human serum using a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay in conjunction with a chemiluminescent assay instrument that uses magnetic microparticles as the solid phase of the immunoreaction. The established method achieved satisfactory results in terms of minimum detection limit, specificity, accuracy, and clinical application. The limit of detection was 0.03 ng/mL. The intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) was 1.94-5.05%, the inter-assay CV was 2.29-6.88%, and the recovery rate was 88.60-93.27%. Cross-reactivity with L-cysteine ranged from 0.0100 to 0.0200 μmol/L, and cross-reactivity with glutathione ranged from 0.0100 to 0.200 μmol/L, all of which were less than the limit of detection (LoD) of this method. The linear factor R of this method was greater than 0.99.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, the developed method showed a good correlation with the product from Abbott. A total of 996 clinical patients with cardiovascular diseases were evaluated using the method developed in this study.

Development of plate-type and tubular chemiluminescence immunoassay against African swine fever virus p72

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease that has caused huge economic losses to the pig and related industries worldwide. At present, rapid, accurate, and sensitive laboratory detection technologies are important means of preventing and controlling ASF. However, because attenuated strains of African swine fever virus (ASFV) are constantly emerging, an ASFV antibody could be used more effectively to investigate the virus and control the disease on pig farms. The isolation of ASFV-specific antibodies is also essential for the diagnosis of ASF. Therefore, in this study, we developed two chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs) to detect antibodies directed against ASFV p72: a traditional plate-type blocking CLIA (p72-CLIA) and an automatic tubular competitive CLIA based on magnetic particles (p72-MPCLIA). We compared the diagnostic performance of these two methods to provide a feasible new method for the effective prevention and control of ASF and the purification of ASFV. The cut-off value, diagnostic sensitivity (Dsn), and diagnostic specificity (Dsp) of p72-CLIA were 40%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively, in known background serum, whereas those of p72-MPCLIA were 36%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively. Thus, both methods show good Dsn, Dsp, and repeatability. However, when analytical sensitivity was evaluated, p72-MPCLIA was more sensitive than p72-CLIA or a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. More importantly, p72-MPCLIA reduced the detection time to 15 min and allowed fully automated detection. In summary, p72-MPCLIA showed superior diagnostic performance and offered a new tool for detecting ASFV infections in the future. KEY POINTS: • Two chemiluminescence immunoassay (plate-type CLIA and tubular CLIA) methods based on p72 monoclonal antibody (mAb) were developed to detect ASFV antibody. • Both methods show good diagnostic performance (Dsn (100%), Dsp (99.6%), and good repeatability), and p72-MPCLIA detects antibodies against ASFV p72 with high efficiency in just 15 min.

A chemiluminescence immunoassay for type IV collagen as a promising marker for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis

Herein, a magnetic bead-based chemiluminescence assay is reported to detect type IV collagen (col-IV) in serum samples. Magnetic beads (MBs) exhibit biocompatibility. Taking advantage of this property, they were conjugated with the col-IV antibody. For the determination of col-IV, the interaction of the col-IV sample, anti-(col-IV)-alkaline phosphatase (anti-(col-IV)-ALP) and anti-col-IV-magnetic beads (anti-(col-IV)-MBs) was performed to generate chemiluminescence. Under the optimized conditions, the developed method displayed good linearity in the concentration range of 20-2000 ng mL-1 with the limit of 0.79 ng mL-1. The repeatability coefficient of variation (CV) for col-IV detection ranged from 3.16% to 7.50%. The col-IV level in samples collected from a hospital was assessed by the chemiluminescence assay. Satisfactory recoveries were obtained ranging from 93.30% to 100.14%. In conclusion, the magnetic bead-based chemiluminescence assay may be used as a routine and efficient tool to detect type IV collagen in clinical diagnosis.

Magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence immunoassay for serum human heart-type fatty acid binding protein measurement

OBJECTIVES

Human heart-type fatty acid binding protein (HFABP) is a biomarker for diagnosis, risk assessment, and prognosis of acute myocardial infarction, and we aimed to establish an immunoassay for HFABP quantitation.

METHODS

Human HFABP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were developed, evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) generated. Analytical performance of the CLEIA was evaluated by measuring serum HFABP.

RESULTS

The prokaryotically expressed rHFABP was purified and four anti-HFABP mAbs with superior detection performance were obtained after immunizing BALB/c mice. MAbs 2B8 and 6B3 were selected as respective capture and detection antibodies for HFABP measurement by CLEIA (detection range, 0.01-128 μg/L). Results using the CLEIA showed excellent correlation (r, 0.9622) and the correlation coefficient was 0.9809 (P < 0.05) by the Tukey test statistical analysis with those of latex-enhanced immunoturbidimetry in hospitals.

CONCLUSION

Our mAbs and CLEIA for HFABP detection represent new diagnostic tools for measurement of human serum HFABP.

A magnetic solid phase chemiluminescent immunoassay for quantification of Cystatin C in human serum

A chemiluminescent immunoassay for human serum Cystatin C (Cys C) was established using a direct-antibody sandwich model. The immunoassay kit uses magnetic separation technology, using magnetic particles as the reaction solid phase, alkaline phosphatase as the marker enzyme, and a new chemiluminescent substrate APLS as the substrate. It has the characteristics of high sensitivity and short reaction time. This product uses high-affinity antibodies, resulting in a high specificity. The established method showed good accuracy, uniformity, and stability. The limit of detection was 2.39 ng/mL. The intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) was 3.36%-6.00%, the interassay CV was 4.12%-5.35%, and the recovery rate was 99.07%. The correlation coefficient (r) of Cys-C kit was 0.999388 ≥ 0.9900. The accuracy of the developed method was tested by automatic chemiluminescence instrument (P > 0.05). The lowest titer was 0.92500, and the highest was 1.10000. The developed method showed a good correlation with the product from Roche by comparing these two kits in 240 clinical samples from China. In total, 1392 clinical patient from China samples were measured using the reagent kit developed in this study.

Comparison of performance and clinical utility of different methods for detecting anti-PLA2R antibody

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to compare the performance of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and magnetic particle chemiluminescence immunoassay (MP-CLIA) for detecting anti-phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) antibody and their clinical significance in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) patients.

METHODS

Serum samples from 448 patients with different types of nephropathy, including 222 with IMN, were tested using both methods. Sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic significance of PLA2R antibody levels were evaluated.

RESULTS

Similar sensitivity and specificity of ELISA and MP-CLIA in identifying IMN patients was found. However, MP-CLIA performed better than ELISA in predicting the prognosis of IMN patients. Adjusting the cutoff value reduced the false-negative rate in both methods. Logistic regression analysis identified six variables, including MP-CLIA-PLA2R levels, eGFR, lymphocyte count, B lymphocyte count, NK cell count, and complement 4, as predictors of renal function outcomes in IMN patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Both ELISA and MP-CLIA are reliable methods for detecting anti-PLA2R antibodies in IMN patients. However, MP-CLIA is more accurate in predicting the prognosis of IMN. Combining MP-CLIA-PLA2R with other variables can help predict renal function outcomes in IMN patients. Our study emphasizes the importance of considering both analytical performance and clinical utility when selecting a PLA2R antibody assay kit.

Deep learning on lateral flow immunoassay for the analysis of detection data

Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is an important detection method in vitro diagnosis, which has been widely used in medical industry. It is difficult to analyze all peak shapes through classical methods due to the complexity of LFIA. Classical methods are generally some peak-finding methods, which cannot distinguish the difference between normal peak and interference or noise peak, and it is also difficult for them to find the weak peak. Here, a novel method based on deep learning was proposed, which can effectively solve these problems. The method had two steps. The first was to classify the data by a classification model and screen out double-peaks data, and second was to realize segmentation of the integral regions through an improved U-Net segmentation model. After training, the accuracy of the classification model for validation set was 99.59%, and using combined loss function (WBCE + DSC), intersection over union (IoU) value of segmentation model for validation set was 0.9680. This method was used in a hand-held fluorescence immunochromatography analyzer designed independently by our team. A Ferritin standard curve was created, and the T/C value correlated well with standard concentrations in the range of 0-500 ng/ml (R ² = 0.9986). The coefficients of variation (CVs) were ≤ 1.37%. The recovery rate ranged from 96.37 to 105.07%. Interference or noise peaks are the biggest obstacle in the use of hand-held instruments, and often lead to peak-finding errors. Due to the changeable and flexible use environment of hand-held devices, it is not convenient to provide any technical support. This method greatly reduced the failure rate of peak finding, which can reduce the customer's need for instrument technical support. This study provided a new direction for the data-processing of point-of-care testing (POCT) instruments based on LFIA.

Development of magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence immunoassay for measurement of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein

Background

Recently, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection has spread rapidly around the world, becoming a new global pandemic disease. Nucleic acid detection is the primary method for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the addition of antibody and antigen detection. Nucleocapsid protein (NP) is a kind of conservative structural protein with abundant expression during SARS-CoV-2 infection, which makes it an ideal target for immunoassay.

Methods

The coding sequence for SARS-CoV-2-NP was obtained by chemical synthesis, and then inserted into pET28a(+). The soluble recombinant NP (rNP) with an estimated molecular weight of 49.4 kDa was expressed in E. coli cells after IPTG induction. Six-week-old BALB/c mice were immunized with rNP, and then their spleen cells were fused with SP2/0 cells, to develop hybridoma cell lines that stably secreted monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against NP. The mAbs were preliminarily evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and then used to develop a magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) for measurement of SARS-CoV-2-NP.

Results

mAb 15B1 and mAb 18G10 were selected as capture and detection antibody respectively to develop CLEIA, due to the highest sensitivity for rNP detection. The proposed CLEIA presented a good linearity for rNP detection at a working range from 0.1 to 160 μg/L, with a precision coefficient of variance below 10 %.

Conclusion

The newly developed mAbs and CLEIA can serve as potential diagnostic tools for clinical measurement of SARS-CoV-2-NP.