Repetitive Immunoassay with a Surface Acoustic Wave Device and a Highly Stable Protein Monolayer for On-Site Monitoring of Airborne Dust Mite Allergens

This work describes a sensor to be incorporated into the on-site monitoring system of airborne house dust mite (HDM) allergens. A surface acoustic wave (SAW) device was combined with self-assembled monolayers of a highly stable antibody capture protein on the SAW surface that have high resistance to pH change. A sandwich assay was used to measure a HDM allergen, Der f 1 derived from Dermatophagoides farinae. Capture antibodies were cross-linked to a protein G based capture layer (ORLA85) on the sensor surface, thereby only Der f 1 and detection antibodies were regenerated by changing pH, resulting in fast repetition of the measurement. The sensor was characterized through 10 repetitive measurements of Der f 1, which demonstrated high reproducibility of the sensor with the coefficient of variation of 5.6%. The limit of detection (LOD) of the sensor was 6.1 ng·mL^-1, encompassing the standard (20 ng·mL^-1) set by the World Health Organization. Negligible sensor outputs were observed for five different major allergens including other HDM allergens which tend to have cross-reactivity to Der f 1 and their mixtures with Der f 1. Finally, the sensor lifetime was evaluated by conducting three measurements per day, and the sensor output did not substantially change for 4 days. These characteristics make the SAW immunosensor a promising candidate for incorporation into on-site allergen monitoring systems.