Microbead-based technologies in diagnostic autoantibody detection

There is a rapid proliferation of new technologies to identify a spectrum of autoantibodies in medical conditions that range from organ-specific autoimmune diseases to systemic rheumatic diseases. Although many laboratories have adopted high-throughput diagnostic platforms such as enzyme linked immunoassays (ELISA), other technologies such as microbead-based assays are emerging as an alternative diagnostic platform.

To understand the performance and importance of bead based immunoassays in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics.

Current literature was reviewed using the PubMed search engine combining keywords of immunoassay and Luminex, as well as a personal literature database. Included in the evaluation and commentary are bead-based assays such as addressable laser bead immunoassays and related magnetic bead assays.

Comparison with other conventional technologies has indicated that laser microbead immunoassays are reliable, accurate, cost-effective, highly sensitive and have rapid turn around time for results. While there are advantages to this diagnostic platform, there are challenges that must be addressed before wider acceptance or long-term use of this technology platform in the routine clinical diagnostic laboratory.