Rapid and Sensitive Lateral Flow Immunoassay Method for Procalcitonin (PCT) Based on Time-Resolved Immunochromatography

• Main Authors: Xiang-Yang Shao, Cong-Rong Wang, Chun-Mei Xie, Xian-Guo Wang, Rong-Liang Liang, Wei-Wen Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-02-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: time-resolved; immunochromatography; procalcitonin (PCT)
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/17/3/480

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a current, frequently-used marker for severe bacterial infection. The aim of this study was to develop a cost-effective detection kit for rapid quantitative and on-site detection of PCT. To develop the new PCT quantitative detecting kit, a double-antibody sandwich immunofluorescent assay was employed based on time-resolved immunofluorescent assay (TRFIA) combined with lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA). The performance of the new developed kit was evaluated in the aspects of linearity, precision, accuracy, and specificity. Two-hundred thirty-four serum samples were enrolled to carry out the comparison test. The new PCT quantitative detecting kit exhibited a higher sensitivity (0.08 ng/mL). The inter-assay coefficient of variation (CV) and the intra-assay CV were 5.4%–7.7% and 5.7%–13.4%, respectively. The recovery rates ranged from 93% to 105%. Furthermore, a high correlation (n = 234, r = 0.977, p < 0.0001) and consistency (Kappa = 0.875) were obtained when compared with the PCT kit from Roche Elecsys BRAHMS. Thus, the new quantitative method for detecting PCT has been successfully established. The results indicated that the newly-developed system based on TRFIA combined with LFIA was suitable for rapid and on-site detection for PCT, which might be a useful platform for other biomarkers in point-of-care tests.