Combinatorial Immunophenotyping of Cell Populations with an Electronic Antibody Microarray

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 15; no. 51; pp. e1904732 - n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Ruxiu, Chu, Chia‐Heng, Wang, Ningquan, Ozkaya‐Ahmadov, Tevhide, Civelekoglu, Ozgun, Lee, Dohwan, Arifuzzman, A K M, Sarioglu, A. Fatih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-12-2019
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigens; Biomarkers; Combinatorial analysis; complete blood count; Flow cytometry; Fluorescence; Fractionation; immunophenotyping; Leukocytes; microarrays; Microfluidics; Microscopes; Nanotechnology; Populations; Statistical methods; Telemedicine; flow cytometry; immunophenotyping; microfluidics; complete blood count; microarrays
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201904732

Immunophenotyping is widely used to characterize cell populations in basic research and to diagnose diseases from surface biomarkers in the clinic. This process usually requires complex instruments such as flow cytometers or fluorescence microscopes, which are typically housed in centralized laboratories. Microfluidics are combined with an integrated electrical sensor network to create an antibody microarray for label‐free cell immunophenotyping against multiple antigens. The device works by fractionating the sample via capturing target subpopulations in an array of microfluidic chambers functionalized against different antigens and by electrically quantifying the cell capture statistics through a network of code‐multiplexed electrical sensors. Through a combinatorial arrangement of antibody sequences along different microfluidic paths, the device can measure the prevalence of different cell subpopulations in a sample from computational analysis of the electrical output signal. The device performance is characterized by analyzing heterogeneous samples of mixed tumor cell populations and then the technique is applied to determine leukocyte subpopulations in blood samples and the results are validated against complete blood cell count and flow cytometry results. Label‐free immunophenotyping of cell populations against multiple targets on a disposable electronic chip presents opportunities in global health and telemedicine applications for cell‐based diagnostics and health monitoring.
An electrically readable microfluidic antibody microarray for the combinatorial immunophenotyping of cell populations is demonstrated. The cell capture statistics across the whole device are acquired from a single electrical output without any loss of information. The ability to electrically screen cell immunophenotypes on a disposable microfluidic chip can be transformative in cell‐based diagnostics at the point‐of‐care and resource‐limited scenarios.