A multiplex assay for the detection of antibodies to relevant swine
pathogens in serum
Abstract
Livestock industry supports the livelihood of around 1.3 billion people
in the world, with swine industry contributing with 30 % of total
livestock production worldwide. To maintain and guarantee this
production, a pivotal point according to the OIE is addressing potential
biohazards. To control them, permanent sero-surveillance is crucial to
achieve more focused veterinary public health intervention and
prevention strategies, to break the chains of transmission, and to
enable fast responses against outbreaks. Within this context, multiplex
assays are powerful tools with the potential to simplify surveillance
programs, since they reduce time, labour, and variability within
analysis. In the present work, we developed a multiplex bead-based assay
for the detection of specific antibodies to six relevant pathogens
affecting swine: ASFV, CSFV, PRRSV, SIV, TB, and HEV. The most
immunogenic target antigen of each pathogen was selected as the target
protein to coat different microsphere regions in order to develop this
multiplex assay. A total of 1544 serum samples from experimental
infections as well as field samples were included in the analysis. The
6plex assay exhibited credible diagnostic parameters with sensitivities
ranging from 87.0 % to 97.5 % and specificities ranging from 87.9 %
to 100.0 %, demonstrating it to be a potential high throughput tool for
surveillance of infectious diseases in swine.