Protein chip for the parallel quantification of high and low abundant biomarkers for sepsis

We present herein a protein chip for diagnosis of sepsis that combines both a sandwich and a binding inhibition format in order to quantify high (CRP) and low abundant proteins (cytokines, PCT, neopterin) in parallel. Using the combined assay format the lowest detectable concentrations for CRP, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNFα, PCT, and neopterin are 3 mg/L, 15 ng/L, 26 ng/L, 65 ng/L, 40 ng/L, 78 ng/L, and 0.46 μg/L. Four different combined assay formats are tested, using separate or joint incubation steps of analytes and detection antibodies. Yet, low limit of detection (LOD) and short processing time are contradictory: while the combined assay performed in a multistep protocol is extremely sensitive (e.g., the LOD for IL-6 is 15 ng/L), but more time-consuming (4 h), the all-in-one protocol takes only 2.5 h, but suffers from lower sensitivity compared with the multistep protocol (e.g., the LOD for IL-6 is up to 40 times enhanced). Reproducibility is good in both cases (CV 5–20%).