Ultraprecise Antigen 10-in-1 Pool Testing by Multiantibodies Transistor Assay

J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Dec 1;143(47):19794-19801. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c08598. Epub 2021 Nov 18.

Abstract

Effective screening of infectious diseases requires a fast, cheap, and population-scale testing. Antigen pool testing can increase the test rate and shorten the screening time, thus being a valuable approach for epidemic prevention and control. However, the overall percent agreement (OPA) with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one-half to three-quarters, hampering it from being a comprehensive method, especially pool testing, beyond the gold-standard PCR. Here, a multiantibodies transistor assay is developed for sensitive and highly precise antigen pool testing. The multiantibodies capture SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 proteins with different configurations, resulting in an antigen-binding affinity down to 0.34 fM. The limit of detection reaches 3.5 × 10-17 g mL-1SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 protein in artificial saliva, 4-5 orders of magnitude lower than existing transistor sensors. The testing of 60 nasopharyngeal swabs exhibits ∼100% OPA with PCR within an average diagnoses time of 38.9 s. Owing to its highly precise feature, a portable integrated platform is fabricated, which achieves 10-in-1 pooled screening for high testing throughput. This work solves the long-standing problem of antigen pool testing, enabling it to be a valuable tool in precise diagnoses and population-wide screening of COVID-19 or other epidemics in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies / immunology*
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • Immunoassay / instrumentation
  • Immunoassay / methods*
  • Limit of Detection
  • Nasopharynx / virology
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Protein Subunits / genetics
  • Protein Subunits / immunology
  • Protein Subunits / metabolism
  • SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
  • SARS-CoV-2 / metabolism
  • Saliva / virology
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology*
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / metabolism
  • Transistors, Electronic*

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Protein Subunits
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
  • spike protein, SARS-CoV-2