Rapid and Sensitive Quantum Dots Immunochromatographic Strip for H10 Subtype Avian Influenza Virus Detection

Abstract

The H10 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV), an important zoonotic pathogen, is widely prevalent in host species (wild fowl) and continues to infect humans, imposing a huge threat to public health. Thus, the H10 subtype AIV is considered a potential pandemic strain and has drawn the attention of scholars worldwide. Therefore, a fast, sensitive, and economical detection method for H10 subtype AIV needs to be developed for the surveillance and prevention of this infection. Quantum dot fluorescent microsphere-based immunochromatographic strip (QDFM-ICS) has a great application prospect in the rapid detection of the virus. In this study, two monoclonal antibodies (1E8 and 2G9) were generated by immunizing mice with the purified hemagglutinin (HA) protein, and QDFM-ICS was designed to detect the H10 subtype influenza antigen. We illustrated that the limit of detection (LOD) of QDFM-ICS for the HA titer and purified HA protein of the H10 subtype AIV was 0.125 per 80 μL of the sample and 4 ng/mL, respectively. The specificity of QDFM-ICS was 100%, which indicated that mAb 2G9 specifically bound to the H10 subtype influenza antigen without cross-reacting with other subtype AIVs. The method has good reproducibility. Additionally, the results of preliminary tests on clinical samples showed high consistency between QDFM-ICS and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The QDFM-ICS has simple analysis steps and can produce objective results within 15 min. Hence, it can be suggested that QDFM-ICS can be used to monitor and prevent the infection caused by H10 subtype AIVs.