Seafood Allergy Test Based on Immobilized Allergens in a Microfluidic Chip

The present study aims to develop a method for detecting seafood-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) antibodies in human serum. Allergens were fixed on microfluidic channels for the capture of sIgE. Then, sIgE was eluted and characterized via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The present protocol shows an excellent performance for the analysis of sIgE in serum. The results show a 9.1% decrease in the number of identified sIgE peptides, and the loss rate of the magnetic bead (MB) -bound protein was calculated to be 16.29% in four consecutive detections. The limit of detection (LOD) is in the femtomolar range and provides sufficient sensitivity for practical sIgE detection in serum. The application of the developed sensor for <i>in vitro</i> allergy test was demonstrated by analyzing sera of four parvalbumin-allergic patients and five nonallergic controls. The present approach potentially provides a novel strategy to advance research in IgE-mediated food allergy diagnosis.