Next Generation Immunoassays for Infectious Diseases of Animals

Abstract

Veterinary diagnostics has an essential role to play in the management and control of infectious diseases. Immunodiagnostics originated towards the end of 19th century with the advent of agglutination- and precipitation-based serological techniques. Progress in immunodiagnostics during the 20th century is marked by development of complement fixation test, and later, fluoro-, radio- and enzyme-immunoassays during 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, respectively. Various immunodiagnostic test formats were improved for their performance characteristics in order to be ‘fit-for-purpose’ as defined by OIE. At present, several immunodiagnostic tests, fit for various purposes, are the mainstay of infectious disease diagnostics.
Miniaturization, automation, high-throughput multiplexing, sensitivity amplification, and ‘point-of-care’ (POC) testing are major goals of the ‘next generation immunoassays (NGIAs). A combination or integration of different technologies and devices (such as nano- and bio-engineering technologies, biosensors, remote sensing and digital imaging/image capture technologies, immobilization, 3D printing and arraying technologies, automation and robotics, mass spectrometry, microfluidics-based lab-on-a-chip, data mining and bioinformatics, lateral flow and smartphone-based devices, labeling and purification techniques, etc.) are creating various platforms for NGIAs, including POC-NGIAs. Various NGIAs use label-free or label-based analyte detection/reporter systems. Properties of nanomaterials, light, fluorochromes, luminescent substances, microbeads, microfluidic chips, and biosensors are being exploited for developing sensitive signal detection/reporting systems in NGIA platforms and devices. Several rapid, portable/smartphone-based, low-cost, user-friendly POC devices and laboratory-based high-throughput multiplex NGIAs are in the development or validation pipelines. This article is an overview of NGIAs in the context of their potential applications for diagnosis and control of infectious diseases of domestic animals.

Keywords: next generation immunoassays, point-of-care tests, multiplex immunoassays, infectious animal diseases

Cite this Article

Ajit Singh. Next Generation Immunoassays for Infectious Diseases of Animals. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Immunology. 2017; 7(2): 22–43p.