Microfluidic CD4+ T-cell counting device using chemiluminescence-based detection

This letter demonstrates a microfluidic platform for enumerating CD4+ T-lymphocytes from whole blood using chemiluminescence as a detection method. We microfabricated traps in a chamber and coated them with anti-CD4 antibody to isolate CD4+ T-cells. Based on cell surface-bound CD3 antibodies conjugated with horseradish peroxidase, incubation with chemiluminescent substrate produced a current in the photodetector that was proportional to the number of captured CD4+ T-cells. Analyzing 3 microL of whole blood, the platform exhibited high cell-capture efficiency and produced cell counts with high correlation to results obtained from flow cytometry. Compared to other lab-on-a-chip methods for CD4 counting, this method uses an instrument that requires no external light source and no image processing to produce a digitally displayed result only seconds after running the test.