A multi-antigen print immunoassay for the development of serological diagnosis of infectious diseases

Serological diagnosis of infectious diseases that generate a highly heterog eneous antibody repertoire, such as tuberculosis, requires tests based on c ocktails of antigens. We describe a new method called multi-antigen print i mmunoassay (MAPIA) for cocktail-based serological diagnosis. The assay enta ils the application of antigen to nitrocellulose membranes by micro-aerosol ization (printing), followed by antibody detection using standard chromogen ic immunodevelopment. Cocktails of protein antigens of Mycobacterium tuberc ulosis tested by MAPIA were found to maintain the serological activity of e ach of their components. In contrast, the same cocktails tested by enzyme-l inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) had a serological activity that was lower than the sum of the activities of their components. Consequently, cocktail -based MAPIA attained the diagnostic sensitivity expected on the basis of s ingle antigen results, while a significant loss of diagnostic sensitivity w as observed with cocktail-based ELISA. Thus, the MAPIA format is superior t o conventional ELISA for the serological diagnosis of infectious diseases c haracterized by heterogeneous antibody responses. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.