Biochip as a potential platform of serological interferon alpha2b antibody assay

The formation of antibodies against cytokines may play a major role in the generation of the immune response and may affect treatment protocols with recombinant cytokines. Interferon (IFN) is one of the effective therapeutic agents with anti-viral and anti-tumor specific effects. The appearance of IFN antibodies in patients may limit the natural and the therapeutic effect by IFNs. In contrast to conventional ELISA techniques, we here report a simple biochip methodology that enables identification of antibodies against cytokines and peptides. The method takes advantage of a functionalized self-assembled monolayer modified by N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). To validate this surface, four human proteins: IFNalpha2b, leptin, growth hormone and human IgG, with molecular sizes ranging between 14 and 150 kDa, were used. A number of other parameters for protein assay conditions by array technology were evaluated concomitantly. Finally, 56 serum samples from patients treated with recombinant human IFNalpha2b were simultaneously tested on single chip. In these patients, 16.1% (9 of 56 cases) were positive for IFNalpha2b antibodies. All results were confirmed in an ELISA, specific for the identification of IFNalpha specific antibodies in human samples. The potential application of this protein biochip can be amplified rapidly and reliably to test not only IFNalpha2b, but also other cytokine specific antibodies. The clinical relevance of such assays for investigations in autoimmune disorders is expected.