Rapid and simultaneous detection of ricin, staphylococcal enterotoxin B and saxitoxin by chemiluminescence-based microarray immunoassay

Simultaneous detection of small and large molecules on microarray immunoassays is a challenge that limits some applications in multiplex analysis. This is the case for biosecurity, where fast, cheap and reliable simultaneous detection of proteotoxins and small toxins is needed. Two highly relevant proteotoxins, ricin (60 kDa) and bacterial toxin staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB, 30 kDa) and the small phycotoxin saxitoxin (STX, 0.3 kDa) are potential biological warfare agents and require an analytical tool for simultaneous detection. Proteotoxins are successfully detected by sandwich immunoassays, whereas competitive immunoassays are more suitable for small toxins (<1 kDa). Based on this need, this work provides a novel and efficient solution based on anti-idiotypic antibodies for small molecules to combine both assay principles on one microarray. The biotoxin measurements are performed on a flow-through chemiluminescence microarray platform MCR3 in 18 minutes. The chemiluminescence signal was amplified by using a poly-horseradish peroxidase complex (polyHRP), resulting in low detection limits: 2.9 ± 3.1 μg L−1 for ricin, 0.1 ± 0.1 μg L−1 for SEB and 2.3 ± 1.7 μg L−1 for STX. The developed multiplex system for the three biotoxins is completely novel, relevant in the context of biosecurity and establishes the basis for research on anti-idiotypic antibodies for microarray immunoassays.