Eighty-eight percent of diarrhea-related illness worldwide is associated with human exposure to contaminated water, unsafe food, and poor sanitation/hygiene, causing approximately 1.5 million deaths, the majority of whom are children1. This is a major cause of concern for public health officials and policy makers. In an effort to investigate exposures and illnesses associated with waterborne and other environmental pathogens, we developed a multiplex immunoassay to measure antibodies in human samples2-4. This method can be applied to epidemiological studies to determine human exposure to these pathogens and to better define immunoprevalence and incident infections.
Saliva holds considerable promise as an alternative to serum for human biomarker research. Among the advantages of using saliva are the non-invasiveness and ease of sample collection, low cost, and samples can easily be collected from children5-7. Serum and saliva samples have been studied extensively for antibodies against H. pylori2,3,8, Plasmodium falciparum9, Entamoeba histolytica10, Cryptosporidium parvum3,11, Streptococcus pneumonia12, hepatitis viruses A and C13-14, noroviruses2-4,15, T. gondii2-4, dengue virus16, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)17, and Escherichia coli O157:H718.
A multiplex immunoassay allows for the analysis of multiple analytes simultaneously within a single sample volume and within a single cycle or run. Multiplexed antigens from C. jejuni, T. gondii, H. pylori, hepatitis A virus, and two noroviruses were used to measure human salivary IgG2-4 and IgA3,4 and plasma IgG2,3 antibody responses to these pathogens using a bead-based multiplexing immunoassay. When used in conjunction with epidemiological studies of exposure to microbes in water, soil and food, the type of assay described in this study may provide valuable information to enhance the understanding of infections caused by environmental pathogens. Moreover, salivary antibody data obtained from such studies can be used to improve risk assessment models19-22.