Application of Single Molecule Array in Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases
Single molecule array(Simoa),also known as“digital ELISA”,was a new digital immunoassay technology developed in recent years,which was generally used to detect protein biomarkers via single molecule counting. The technology could be applied to measure proteins in various specimens,such as serum,plasma,cerebrospinal fluid,urine,cell extracts,etc.,with a limit of detection as low as femtomolar(fg/mL),and an approximately 1000-fold sensitivity compared to traditional ELISA. Currently,the technology was promisingly applied in diagnosis of some major infectious diseases including COVID-19,tuberculosis,AIDS and prion virus. As the process of COVID-19 infection could be monitored with the help of the technology,it was expected that,by the technology,such infection could be early diagnosed with high sensitivity so as to distinguish patients with severe or mild symptoms,so was the active tuberculosis,and relevant therapeutic effect could be monitored;any changes of relevant immunogenic protein content related to human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)could be accurately detected to improve the sensitivity of early diagnosis;serums of live animals could be detected prior to any clinical symptoms of scrapie to improve early detection capacity and then it was expected to be used in the diagnosis of human Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in the future. It was also expected that,through development of kits for corresponding diseases,the technology could be used to improve comprehensive diagnosis capacity,and evaluate the effect of vaccination to provide a basis for disease prevention and control.