Background
Early and accurate determination of bacterial infections as a potential cause for a patient's systemic inflammatory response is required for timely administration of appropriate treatment and antibiotic stewardship. Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) have both been used as biomarkers to infer bacterial infections, particularly in the context of sepsis. There is an urgent need to develop a platform for simultaneous quantification of PCT and CRP, to enable the potential use of these biomarkers at the point-of-care.
Methods
A multiplexed lateral flow assay (LFA) and a fluorescence optical reader were developed. Assay performance was validated by testing spiked antigens in the buffer, followed by a validation study comparing