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Supply shortage for the development and production of preventive, therapeutic, and diagnosis tools during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important issue affecting the wealthy and poor nations alike. Antibodies and antigens are especially needed for the production of immunological-based testing tools such as point-of-care tests. Here, we propose a simple and quick magnetic nanoparticle (MNP)-based separation/isolation approach for the repurposing of infected human samples to produce specific antibodies and antigen cocktails. Initially, an antibody cocktail was purified from serums via precipitation and immunoaffinity chromatography. Purified antibodies were conjugated onto MNPs and used as an affinity matrix to separate antigens. The characterization process was performed by ELISA, SDS-PAGE, electrochemistry, isothermal titration calorimetry, and LC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analyses. The MNP-separated peptides can be used for mass spectrometry-based as well as paper-based lateral flow assay diagnostic. The exploitation of the current workflow for the development of efficient diagnostic tools, specific treatments, and fundamental research can significantly impact the present or eventual pandemic. This workflow can be considered as a two birds, one stone-like strategy., (© 2021. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A new multiplexed microparticle-based immunoassay was compared with the immunofluorescence assay that is used widely for detecting EBV-specific antibodies in immunocompetent patients. Serum samples of 162 patients submitted for routine EBV diagnosis were tested for viral capsid antigen IgM, viral capsid antigen IgG and serological profile interpretations with both systems. The result concordances were 94.2%, 93.6%, and 92.1%, respectively. Multiplexed microparticle-based immunoassay can be an alternative to immunofluorescence assay especially in laboratories receiving large numbers of samples.