Influenza A viruses are often present in environmental and clinical samples at concentrations below the limit of detection (LOD) of molecular diagnostics. Here we report an integrated microfluidic preconcentration and nucleic amplification system (μFPNAS) which enables both preconcentration of influenza A virus H1N1 (H1N1) and amplification of its viral RNA, thereby lowering LOD for H1N1. H1N1 virus particles were first magnetically preconcentrated using magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with an antibody specific for the virus. Their isolated RNA was amplified to cDNA through thermocycling in a trapezoidal chamber of the μFPNAS. A detection limit as low as 100 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infective dose) in saliva can be obtained within 2 hours. These results suggest that the LOD of molecular diagnostics for virus can be lowered by systematically combining immunomagnetic separation and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in one microfluidic device.
Keywords: H1N1; immunomagnetic separation; microfluidic device; molecular amplification.