Abstract
Affordable point-of-care test sensors with automated result recording are essential for reducing undetected tuberculosis cases in remote, resource-limited areas. Therefore, this study addresses this need with three key aims. First, we aimed to lower the costs of a patented flow-through assay (Kit and method: WO2016/024116A1) by developing an in-house method for producing antibody-coated gold nanoparticles (anti-IgG-AuNPs). These anti-IgG-AuNPs demonstrated specific binding with performance comparable to existing antibody-capped gold nanoparticles. The second aim was to transform the flow-through assay into a multi-disease screening tool by incorporating multiple antigen test spots. A newly designed wax-printed background allows for simultaneous testing of up to five antigens, delivering results within 15 min at the point-of-care, while also reducing assay costs by 70 %. Lastly, we developed a smartphone application (RAP-TBS) to provide quantitative analysis of the flow-through assay results. This user-friendly app requires no additional hardware and addresses the limitations of subjective visual interpretation. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.]
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 116766 |
| Journal | Diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease |
| Volume | 112 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 20 Feb 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 20 Feb 2025 |
Keywords
- Mobile Applications
- Point-of-care diagnostic
- Flow-through assay
- Tuberculosis - diagnosis
- Gold - chemistry
- Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry
- RAP-TBS smartphone application
- anti-IgG-coated gold nanoparticles
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology - isolation & purification
- Sensitivity and Specificity
- Tuberculosis
- Humans
- Immunoglobulin G - blood
- Point-of-Care Testing
- Immunoassay - methods - instrumentation
- Point-of-Care Systems
- Remote disease monitoring
- Smartphone
