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The utility of smartphone-based quantitative analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody lateral flow assays
Yoshifumi Uwamino1, Shiho Tanaka1, Ayako Shibata1
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine. Tokyo, Japan.
Objectives:
Although antibody measurements using lateral flow assay (LFA) kits are convenient, they usually require a specialized reader for quantification. However, a smartphone-based quantification application can be used as a reader for LFA kits. We investigated the quantification ability of the application for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies.
Methods:
Eight hundred frozen serum samples from 100 healthcare professionals who received a COVID-19 vaccine were analyzed. Images of assayed LFA kits were obtained using a smartphone camera. We determined whether the ratio of color density of the test and control lines of spike protein IgG correlated with chemiluminescent immunoassay-measured titers.
Results:
Spike protein IgG correlated well with the quantification results of the LFA kits using the application installed on a smartphone (r = 0.886).
Conclusion:
Our results suggest that smartphone-based quantitative analysis of LFA kits enables the quantification of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG without special devices, enabling point-of-care assessment of acquired humoral immunity in various settings.
