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Abstract
During August 2020, we carried out a serological survey among students and employees at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Japan, testing for the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. We used a FDA-authorized 2-step ELISA protocol in combination with at-home self-collection of blood samples using a custom low-cost finger prick-based capillary blood collection kit. Although our survey did not find any COVID-19 seropositive individuals among the OIST cohort, it reliably detected all positive control samples obtained from a local hospital and excluded all negatives controls. We found that high serum antibody titers can persist for more than 9 months post infection. Among our controls, we found strong cross-reactivity of antibodies in samples from a serum pool from two MERS patients in the anti-SARS-CoV-2-S ELISA. Here we show that a centralized ELISA in combination with patient-based capillary blood collection using as little as one drop of blood can reliably assess the seroprevalence among communities. Anonymous sample tracking and an integrated website created a stream-lined procedure. Major parts of the workflow were automated on a liquid handler, demonstrating scalability. We anticipate this concept to serve as a prototype for reliable serological testing among larger populations.
Highlights
During August 2020, we carried out a serological survey among students and employees at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Japan, testing for the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19
In emergency situations such as during COVID-19, the health care system is under stress; it cannot be expected that trained clinical personnel are available to draw patient blood by venous puncture
We show that antibody titers obtained by micro blood sampling are equivalent to serum antibody titers from blood drawn by conventional venous puncture
Summary
Once the assay itself was validated, we set up partially automated sample handling on a robotic liquid handler, established a website with a barcoding system for anonymous sample tracking, and conducted a serological survey of staff and students at our institution In emergency situations such as during COVID-19, the health care system is under stress; it cannot be expected that trained clinical personnel are available to draw patient blood by venous puncture. We show that antibody titers obtained by micro blood sampling are equivalent to serum antibody titers from blood drawn by conventional venous puncture This low-cost, deployable self-sampling method in combination with a highly sensitive and specific ELISA in a centralized testing lab provides a scalable solution that can enable serological surveys of larger populations
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