63c A Novel Application of Isotachophoresis to Enhance Immunodiagnostic Assays on a Microchip

Charles Park1, Tomohisa Kawabata2, Irina Kazakova1, Chen Li3, Rajiv Bharadwaj1, and Shinji Satomura2. (1) Microfluidics, Caliper Life Sciences, 605 Fairchild Dr., Mountain View, CA 94043, (2) Wako Pure Chemical Industries, 1-2, Doshomachi 3-Chome,Chuo-ku, Osaka, 540-8605, Japan, (3) Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd., 665 Clyde Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043

The sensitivity of many diagnostic immunoassays is often determined by the final concentrations of the analytes detected. In diagnostic applications that involve a binding immununoassay, the final concentration of the detected analyte may be increased by enhancing the binding reaction or concentrating the immuno-complex before detection. In this study, we use isotachophoresis (ITP) to enhance the binding reaction of an immunoassay as well as to concentrate the complex of interest. We demonstrate the above idea in a microchip-based, liquid-phase alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) immunoassay, which can be used as a marker for liver cancer. In this system, we react AFP with a DNA-labeled antibody and a fluorescent dye-labeled antibody producing a sandwich immuno-complex with AFP. We enhance the reaction by pre-concentrating the DNA-labeled antibody using ITP. The complex of interest is also concentrated using ITP to enhance the detection sensitivity. The concentrated complex is separated using Gel Electrophoresis (GE) in an integrated microchip system that automates the pre-concentration, reaction and separation steps. We demonstrated a better than 1pM limit of detection of AFP using experiments and simulations.