title: Bioassay Development for Ultrasensitive Detection of Influenza A Nucleoprotein Using Digital ELISA.
abstract: Flu is caused by the influenza virus that, due to mutations, keeps our body vulnerable for infections, making early diagnosis essential. Although immuno-based diagnostic tests are available, they have low sensitivity and reproducibility. In this paper, the prospect of detecting influenza A virus using digital ELISA has been studied. To appropriately select bioreceptors for this bioassay, seven commercial antibodies against influenza A nucleoprotein were methodically tested for their reactivity and binding affinity. The study has been performed on two markedly different platforms, being an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a surface plasmon resonance system. The selected antibodies displayed completely different behavior on the two platforms and in various assay configurations. Surprisingly, the antibodies that showed overall good reactivity on both platforms had the highest dissociation constant among the tested antibodies, suggesting that, although important, binding affinity is not the only parameter to be considered when selecting antibodies. Moreover, only one antibody had the capacity to capture the nucleoprotein directly in lysis buffer used for releasing this viral protein, which might pose a huge advantage when developing assays with a fast time-to-result. This antibody was implemented on an in-house developed digital ELISA platform for ultrasensitive detection of recombinant nucleoprotein, reaching a detection limit of 4 ± 1 fM in buffer and 10 ± 2 fM in 10-fold diluted nasopharyngeal swabs, which is comparable to currently available fast molecular detection techniques. These results point to a great potential for ultrasensitive immuno-based influenza detection.
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leirs
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Phalguni
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tewari Kumar
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Decrop
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pérez-Ruiz
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pelin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leblebici
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Van Kelst
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Antibodies, KU Leuven , 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Griet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Compernolle
authors.affiliation: Janssen Diagnostics , 2340 Beerse, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meeuws
authors.affiliation: Janssen Diagnostics , 2340 Beerse, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Wesenbeeck
authors.affiliation: Janssen Diagnostics , 2340 Beerse, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lagatie
authors.affiliation: Janssen Diagnostics , 2340 Beerse, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stuyver
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Therapeutic and Diagnostic Antibodies, KU Leuven , 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gils
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lammertyn
authors.affiliation: BIOSYST-MeBioS, KU Leuven , 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spasic
mesh_terms: D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000737:chemistry*; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: C048842:NP protein, Influenza A virus; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014758:Viral Core Proteins