title: Rapid and Low-Cost CRP Measurement by Integrating a Paper-Based Microfluidic Immunoassay with Smartphone (CRP-Chip).
abstract: Traditional diagnostic tests for chronic diseases are expensive and require a specialized laboratory, therefore limiting their use for point-of-care (PoC) testing. To address this gap, we developed a method for rapid and low-cost C-reactive protein (CRP) detection from blood by integrating a paper-based microfluidic immunoassay with a smartphone (CRP-Chip). We chose CRP for this initial development because it is a strong biomarker of prognosis in chronic heart and kidney disease. The microfluidic immunoassay is realized by lateral flow and gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric detection of the target protein. The test image signal is acquired and analyzed using a commercial smartphone with an attached microlens and a 3D-printed chip-phone interface. The CRP-Chip was validated for detecting CRP in blood samples from chronic kidney disease patients and healthy subjects. The linear detection range of the CRP-Chip is up to 2 μg/mL and the detection limit is 54 ng/mL. The CRP-Chip test result yields high reproducibility and is consistent with the standard ELISA kit. A single CRP-Chip can perform the test in triplicate on a single chip within 15 min for less than 50 US cents of material cost. This CRP-Chip with attractive features of low-cost, fast test speed, and integrated easy operation with smartphones has the potential to enable future clinical PoC chronic disease diagnosis and risk stratification by parallel measurements of a panel of protein biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China. dongmeili@aiofm.ac.cn.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. dongmeili@aiofm.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Meili
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. wujd@physics.umanitoba.ca.
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. zimin6687@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. hagit.peretz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hagit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peretz-Soroka
authors.affiliation: Seven Oaks General Hospital, Winnipeg, MB R2V 3M3, Canada. GZHANG@wrha.mb.ca.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Seven Oaks General Hospital, Winnipeg, MB R2V 3M3, Canada. pkomenda@sogh.mb.ca.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Komenda
authors.affiliation: Seven Oaks General Hospital, Winnipeg, MB R2V 3M3, Canada. ntangri@sogh.mb.ca.
authors.forename: Navdeep
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tangri
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China. liuyong@aiofm.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Seven Oaks General Hospital, Winnipeg, MB R2V 3M3, Canada. crigatto@sbgh.mb.ca.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rigatto
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. flin@physics.umanitoba.ca.|Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. flin@physics.umanitoba.ca.|Department of Immunology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. flin@physics.umanitoba.ca.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. flin@physics.umanitoba.ca.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D004867:Equipment Design; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D044085:Microfluidics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000068997:Smartphone
chemical_list: D006046:Gold; D002097:C-Reactive Protein
keywords: C-reactive protein; chronic disease diagnosis; low-cost; microfluidic device; protein biomarkers; smartphone