Rapid Detection of AAV8 Binding Antibodies in Gene Therapy Candidates: Development of a Point-of-Care Approach

Preexisting anti-AAV antibodies pose a significant challenge to the success of Adeno-associated Virus (AAV) mediated gene therapies, as they can diminish therapeutic effectiveness, restrict patient eligibility for treatment, and cause serious health issues during treatment. This study introduces the first point-of-care (POC) test for the rapid, quantitative detection of AAV8 binding antibodies in patients’ plasma, serum, and blood, leveraging Chembio’s Dual Path Platform (DPP) technology. The DPP AAV8 Total Antibody (TAb) assay delivers results within 20 minutes, with a dynamic range of 0–32 µg/ml when evaluated with purified human polyclonal antibodies that bind to AAV8, with reasonable specificity and sensitivity relative to the AAV8 TAb ELISA (R² = 0.90). Moreover, the assay demonstrated strong correlations with the AAV8 neutralizing antibody (NAb) ELISA and cell-based NAb assays (R² = 0.97 in plasma). This rapid and reliable test can facilitate screening potential gene therapy patients for preexisting AAV8 binding antibodies and assess their suitability for AAV8-mediated gene therapy.