Point-of-care testing (POCT) can facilitate quick turn-around-times (TAT) to promote efficient diagnosis of AMI6. Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) can be used in POCT, particularly in settings where the cost of the high-tech instrumentation may be prohibitive. LFIA in POCT is well-established, mature technology known for its low cost. However, the limitations regarding sensitivity and quantification have hindered its use in many applications7. In our previous work, we have described how the use of upconverting nanoparticle (UCNP) reporters in LFIAs provides quantitative results and improved sensitivity8,9,10.
Abstract
Introduction
Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) has been used clinically, for years, for diagnosis and risk stratification in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI)1. Generally, elevated levels of cTns are conjoined with damage of cardiac muscles and cTnI release to the circulation has specificity for cardiac injury2. Measurement of circulating levels cTnI, particularly observing the rise or fall in cTnI levels, along with the evaluation of patient symptoms, history and electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities are current procedures in the triage of suspected AMI patients3,4. The typical challenge is early identification of AMI among the large heterogenous patient population, as only one in three patients, experiencing chest pain, who visit emergency department (ED) receives AMI diagnosis5. Therefore, timely and correct diagnosis to rule-in AMI is important in terms of cost savings and improving the clinical outcomes of AMI patients.
The use of UCNP measurement technology can enhance the assay sensitivity in comparison to traditional down-converting fluorescent reporters since it enables elimination of the background autofluorescence from the measurement. This is due to the unique photon upconversion luminescence of UCNP reporters converting low-energy excitation (near or at infrared) wavelength into high-energy emission at visible wavelengths11. The UCNP signal can be read with a miniaturized relatively low-cost reader instruments with high performance in POCT settings. Such readers with miniaturized optics for UCNP measurement have previously been described in the literature12,13,14,15.
The performance of LFIAs may suffer from interferences originating from the sample matrix, particularly because of the typical one or two step assay procedure with limited washing. These immunoassay (IA) interferences may be caused by different interfering agents such as circulating heterophilic IgG and IgM antibodies16, autoantibodies targeted against the biomarker of interest17 and human anti-animal antibodies18. In general, IgG antibodies used as binders in IAs are prone to several interfering reactions caused by circulating antibodies.

If a heterophilic antibody has high affinity for the Fc-region of an IA binder antibodies, an aggregate of binder antibodies with large numbers of Fc-regions close together functions as a binding target for the heterophilic antibody16. Furthermore, it has been shown that complement activation by the classical pathway can occur when several IgG molecules are in close proximity, e.g. on reporter nanoparticle surface19 or on the solid phase20. As a results, complement factors bind to the Fc region of the IA binder antibody20,21 which causes negative interference in the IA. Non-specific binding of autoantibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) has been associated with falsely elevated analyte concentrations22. Since IAs utilizing nanoparticle reporters aim at extremely high sensitivities, the effect of matrix interferences should be addressed to fully utilize the potential of nanoparticle IA technologies.
It has been depicted that the effects of interfering agents can be eliminated with sample pre-treatment procedures such as heating or precipitation of interfering antibodies with polyethylene glycol (PEG)20. In addition, pretreatment with Ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) effectively inhibits the activation of the complement pathway23. However, particularly in the case of POCT, time-consuming sample pre-treatment steps are undesirable. Therefore, in LFIAs the potential solutions should be implemented in the test device itself.
In this study, we report the development of a UCNP-LFIA for cTnI. UCNP reporter technology was utilized to provide the sensitive and quantitative detection of cTnI in LFIA format to overcome the typical limitations of LFIAs. The matrix interference in plasma samples was studied and reduced by incorporating the developed sample pre-treatment steps into the LF strip. The performance of the developed UCNP-LFIA was evaluated with clinical plasma samples (n = 262).
ELISA Assay Buffer, 20x |
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GR103001 | Genorise Scientific | 1 L | EUR 89 |
ELISA Assay Buffer, 80x |
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GR103002 | Genorise Scientific | 1 L | EUR 159 |
Rat Fibrinogen ELISA assay |
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MBS480412-1Kit | MyBiosource | 1Kit | EUR 625 |
Rat Fibrinogen ELISA assay |
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MBS480412-5x1Kit | MyBiosource | 5x1Kit | EUR 2825 |
Mouse Fibrinogen ELISA assay |
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MBS480411-1Kit | MyBiosource | 1Kit | EUR 665 |
Mouse Fibrinogen ELISA assay |
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MBS480411-5x1Kit | MyBiosource | 5x1Kit | EUR 3000 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS238291-100mL | MyBiosource | 100mL | EUR 210 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS238291-5x100mL | MyBiosource | 5x100mL | EUR 770 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS238293-100mL | MyBiosource | 100mL | EUR 235 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS238293-5x100mL | MyBiosource | 5x100mL | EUR 885 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239226-500mL | MyBiosource | 500mL | EUR 535 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239226-5x500mL | MyBiosource | 5x500mL | EUR 2240 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239227-1L | MyBiosource | 1L | EUR 680 |
ELISA GENERAL ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239227-5x1L | MyBiosource | 5x1L | EUR 2930 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239230-500mL | MyBiosource | 500mL | EUR 525 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239230-5x500mL | MyBiosource | 5x500mL | EUR 2185 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239231-1L | MyBiosource | 1L | EUR 720 |
ELISA NEPTUNE ASSAY DILUENT |
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MBS239231-5x1L | MyBiosource | 5x1L | EUR 3125 |
Rat uPA activity ELISA assay |
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MBS480481-1Kit | MyBiosource | 1Kit | EUR 825 |
Rat uPA activity ELISA assay |
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MBS480481-5x1Kit | MyBiosource | 5x1Kit | EUR 3755 |
PEG ELISA SPARCL™ Assay |
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PEG-SP | Life Diagnostics | 1 kit | EUR 500 |
Visfatin (human) Elisa Assay Kit |
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K4907-100 | Biovision | each | EUR 1182 |
Visfatin (human) Elisa Assay Kit |
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GWB-AXR242 | GenWay Biotech | 100 assays | Ask for price |
mPEG ELISA SPARCL™ Assay |
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MPEG-SP | Life Diagnostics | 1 kit | EUR 500 |
Adiponectin (rat) Elisa Assay Kit |
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K4903-100 | Biovision | each | EUR 1011.6 |
Adiponectin (rat) Elisa Assay Kit |
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GWB-AXR241 | GenWay Biotech | 1 x 96 assays | Ask for price |
Adiponectin (human) Elisa Assay Kit |
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K2192-96 | ApexBio | 96 assays | EUR 700.8 |
Description: Tools Kit|ELISA Kit#Kits|Tools Kit#Kits |
Adiponectin (mouse) Elisa Assay Kit |
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K2193-96 | ApexBio | 96 assays | EUR 1491.2 |
Description: Tools Kit|ELISA Kit#Kits|Tools Kit#Kits |
Adiponectin (human) ELISA Assay Kit |
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K4901-100 | Biovision | each | EUR 1077.6 |
Adiponectin (mouse) Elisa Assay Kit |
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K4902-100 | Biovision | each | EUR 1038 |
Adiponectin (human) Elisa Assay Kit |
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GWB-AXR239 | GenWay Biotech | 1 x 96 assays | Ask for price |
Adiponectin (mouse) Elisa Assay Kit |
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GWB-AXR240 | GenWay Biotech | 1 x 96 assays | Ask for price |
Ultra Nuclease Assay Kit(ELISA) |
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HBP000111 | HZymes Biotechnology | 96 Tests | EUR 609.5 |