Microbead-based technologies in diagnostic autoantibody detection

BACKGROUND: There is a rapid proliferation of new technologies to identify a spectrum of autoantibodies in medical conditions that range from organ-specific autoimmune diseases to systemic rheumatic diseases. Although many laboratories have adopted high-throughput diagnostic platforms such as enzyme linked immunoassays (ELISA), other technologies such as microbead-based assays are emerging as an alternative diagnostic platform. OBJECTIVE: To understand the performance and importance of bead based immunoassays in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. METHOD: Current literature was reviewed using the PubMed search engine combining keywords of immunoassay and Luminex, as well as a personal literature database. Included in the evaluation and commentary are bead-based assays such as addressable laser bead immunoassays and related magnetic bead assays. CONCLUSIONS: Comparison with other conventional technologies has indicated that laser microbead immunoassays are reliable, accurate, cost-effective, highly sensitive and have rapid turn around time for results. While there are advantages to this diagnostic platform, there are challenges that must be addressed before wider acceptance or long-term use of this technology platform in the routine clinical diagnostic laboratory.