Quantitative, label-free detection of five protein biomarkers using multiplexed arrays of silicon photonic microring resonators

Because of the inherent complexity of biochemical pathways commonly altered in disease states, it has become accepted that multiplexed analyses can provide a more informative biomolecular understanding of disease onset and progression. Importantly, compared to conventional single-parameter assays, the detailed biomolecular insight gleaned from multiparameter measurements has the potential to greatly improve disease diagnostics, prognostics, and theragnostics. We have previously reported the utility of silicon photonic microring resonators for the sensitive quantitation of a single disease biomarker and herein demonstrate the first example of optical microcavity resonator arrays performing quantitative, label-free, multiplexed analyses of clinically relevant protein biomarkers. In this report, the concentrations of prostate specific antigen (PSA), α-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) are simultaneously determined in three unknown protein cocktail solutions. This letter demonstrates that multiple immunoassays can be performed concurrently on a microresonator platform without any accompanying loss of sensitivily or measurement precision, and therefore, this report lays the groundwork for future applications involving multiplexed analysis of clinically relevant samples.