A high-throughput microfluidic nanoimmunoassay for detecting anti–SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum or ultralow-volume blood samples

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Abstract

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, led to an unprecedented global health crisis. As the majority of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have no or only mild symptoms, many cases aren’t captured by direct testing. However, it is important to establish the true spread of the virus by identifying how many people have been exposed. Detection of anti–SARS-CoV-2–specific antibodies in blood samples can help us understand how the pandemic is evolving over time. We developed a sensitive and specific assay that performs 1,024 measurements in parallel. To enable decentralized blood sample collection, the method can detect antibodies in a small drop of blood obtainable by finger pricking, and the blood can be collected and shipped with a simple, low-cost blood glucose test strip.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.10.07.20208280: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    For proof-of-concept experiments, chimeric anti-spike antibodies were purchased from Sino Biological (40150-D002, 40150-D003, 40150-D004, 40150-D005).
    anti-spike
    suggested: (Sino Biological Cat# 40150-D002, RRID:AB_2827981)
    The LIAISON SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG ELISA was run on the LIAISONR XL analyzer, (Diasorin, Italy), the EDI Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 IgG ELISA (Epitope Diagnostics, USA) on the DSX analyzer (Dynex, Switzerland) and the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 N (anti-N total antibodies) as well as the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S (anti-S1-RBD total antibodies) on the Cobas e801 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland) according to the manufacturers instructions.
    anti-N total antibodies
    suggested: None
    anti-S1-RBD total antibodies
    suggested: None
    After surface functionalization, a 1 µg/mL solution of biotinylated anti-His antibody in 2% BSA in PBS was flowed for 20 minutes.
    anti-His
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    The prefusion ectodomain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (the construct was a generous gift from Prof. Jason McLellan, University of Texas, Austin [30]) was transiently transfected into suspension-adapted HEK293 cells (Thermo Fisher) with PEI MAX (Transfection grade linear polyethylenimine hydrochloride, Polysciences) in Excell293 medium.
    HEK293
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Microfluidic chip fabrication: The designs for the flow and control layer of the device were drawn with AutoCAD software and are available for download (lbnc.epfl.ch), we then used standard photolithography to fabricate the molds for each layer.
    AutoCAD
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your code.


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No funding statement was detected.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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