Tethered-bead, immune sandwich assay.

We describe a proof-of-principle, immune sandwich assay in which immune complexes link micron-size beads via DNA tethers to a sensor surface. The number of tethered beads, counted using low-magnification microscopy, provides a measure of the concentration of analyte. The prototype assay was sensitive to pM concentration of analyte. In theory, the assay could be sensitive to sub-fM analyte because beads attached via single-immune complexes and DNA strands form tethers, and tether formation in the absence of analyte is extremely rare. The limiting step at present is binding of streptavidin at the end of DNA to biotin on capture beads. Potential advantages of this type of sensor are discussed.