There is a growing need to screen multiple
infections simultaneously rather than diagnosis of one pathogen at a time in order to improve the quality of healthcare while saving initial screening time and reduce costs. This is the first demonstration of a five-step
protein array assay for the multiplexed detection of HIV, HPV and HSV
antibodies on an integrated microfluidic system. HIV, HPV and HSV reactive
antibodies from both serum and saliva were rapidly detected by acoustic streaming-based mixing and pumping to enable an integrated, rapid and simple-to-use multiplexed assay device. We validated this device with 37 serum and saliva samples to verify reactivity of patient
antibodies with HIV, HPV and HSV
antigens. Our technology can be adapted with different
protein microarrays to detect a variety of other
infections, thus demonstrating a powerful platform to detect multiple putative
protein biomarkers for rapid detection of
infectious diseases. This integrated microfluidic
protein array platform is the basis of a potent strategy to delay progression of primary
infection, reduce the risk of
co-infections and prevent onward transmission of
infections by point-of-care detection of multiple pathogens in both serum and oral fluids.