Point-of-care GlycoStrips detect serum and salivary antibodies to blood group antigens and pathogens.

Antibodies to carbohydrate antigens present in blood group substances and pathogens are important to human health, transplantation, and transfusion medicine. Identifying such antibodies typically requires complex technologies and instrumentation. To address this limitation, we prepared neoglycoproteins densely representing ABO(H) blood group glycan epitopes and printed them in an alphanumeric format on nitrocellulose paper strips, termed 'GlycoStrip', representing a point-of-care device. Binding of anti-ABO(H) antibodies present in serum or saliva is easily visualized after the application of a colorimetric reagent. Results demonstrate distinct anti-glycan IgA and IgG repertoires in each individual tested, providing inferences regarding the ABO status of the donor. Antibody repertoire profiles were corroborated using Luminex and glycan microarray technologies. We prepared GlycoStrips containing pathogen-associated materials and intact bacterial cells to which serum IgG antibodies detectably bound. Results demonstrate the versatility and ease of GlycoStrip in detecting antibodies to a wide variety of antigens, representing a transformative tool for diagnostics and personalized medicine.