Sensors (May 2024)

Point-of-Care Fluorescence Biosensing System for Rapid Multi-Allergen Screening

  • Silvia Demuru,
  • Hui Chai-Gao,
  • Yevhen Shynkarenko,
  • Nicola Hermann,
  • Patricia-Daiana Boia,
  • Peter Cristofolini,
  • Bradley Petkus,
  • Silvia Generelli,
  • Samantha Paoletti,
  • Stefano Cattaneo,
  • Loïc Burr

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s24113280
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 11
p. 3280

Abstract

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With the steady increase in allergy prevalence worldwide, there is a strong need for novel diagnostic tools for precise, fast, and less invasive testing methods. Herein, a miniatured fluorescence-based biosensing system is developed for the rapid and quantitative detection of allergen-specific immunoglobulin-E. An antibody-based fluorescence assay in a microfluidic-patterned slide, combined with a custom-made portable fluorescence reader for image acquisition and user-friendly software for the data analysis, enables obtaining results for multiple allergens in just ~1 h with only 80 μL of blood serum. The multiplexed detection of common birch, timothy grass, cat epithelia, house dust mite, and dog epithelia shows quantitative IgE-mediated allergic responses to specific allergens in control serum samples with known total IgE concentration. The responses are verified with different control tests and measurements with a commercial fluorescence reader. These results open the door to point-of-care allergy screening for early diagnosis and broader access and for large-scale research in allergies.

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