Rapid quantitation of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in clinical samples with an electrochemical sensor

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by several variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 virus (SARS-CoV-2). With the roll-out of vaccines and development of new therapeutics that may be targeted to distinct viral molecules, there is a need to screen populations for viral antigen-specific SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Here, we report a rapid, multiplexed, electrochemical (EC) device with on-chip control that enables detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in less than 10 min using 1.5 mu L of a patient sample. The EC biosensor demonstrated 100% sensitivity and specificity, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 1, when evaluated using 93 clinical samples, including plasma and dried blood spot samples from 54 SARS-CoV-2 positive and 39 negative patients. This EC biosensor platform enables simple, costeffective, sensitive, and rapid detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in complex clinical samples, which is convenient for evaluating humoral-responses to vaccination or infection in population-wide testing, including applications in point-of-care settings. We also demonstrate the feasibility of using dried blood spot samples that can be collected locally and transported to distant clinical laboratories at ambient temperature for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies which may be utilized for serological surveillance and demonstrate the utility of remote sampling.

Automated summary

This article presents a rapid electrochemical device that can detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in less than 10 minutes using a small patient sample. The device has 100% sensitivity and specificity, making it convenient for evaluating immune responses to vaccination or infection in populations.