Simultaneous detection of chicken cytokines in plasma samples using the Bio-Plex assay

Abstract A chicken multiplex cytokine assay (Bio-Plex) to detect four different cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, IL-10, and interferon gamma) simultaneously in plasma samples was designed. Most standard curves range between 1 to 5 pg/mL and 5,000 pg/mL, except for IFNγ with the range of 50 to 25,000 pg/mL. Such a chicken multiplex assay proved to be fast and reliable, and comparable in sensitivity, accuracy, and reproducibility to conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Comparison of the multiplex assay with the ELISA technique using the same clones of detection and capture antibodies resulted in correlation coefficients for all cytokines ranging from 0.95 to 0.99. Lower limit of detection and limit of quantification values were obtained for all tested cytokines by the Bio-Plex assay compared with ELISA. To reduce the risk of cross-reaction with other proteins, the Bio-Plex system was used, combining the principle of sandwich immunoassay with the Luminex bead-based technology. The cytokine standard recoveries for each cytokine varied between 86 and 118% in dynamic concentration ranges. A chicken multiplex cytokine assay (Bio-Plex) provided a more complete picture of differences between the Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles of the immunized via a new system of antigen delivery into chicken antigen-presenting cells and control groups. This multiplexed fluorescent-bead-based detection assay can be used as a quantitative or comparative tool for the study of the chicken ex vivo cellular immune response.