Comparison of highly sensitive, multiplex immunoassay platforms for streamlined clinical cytokine quantification

Selecting the optimal platforms to quantitate cytokines is challenging due to varying performance and the plethora of options available. To compare performance of three highly sensitive, multiplex assays on three different platforms – MSD S-plex, Olink Target 48, and Quanterix SP-X – to MSD V-plex which is widely used for quantitative cytokine assay. Serum and stimulated plasma samples were analyzed across each platform. The proportion of quantifiable samples was compared for each analyte and correlation analyses were performed to relate the data. For MSD S-plex, parallelism and antibody pair knockdown experiments gauged specificity of the kit. MSD S-plex was the most sensitive multiplex platform followed by Olink Target 48, Quanterix SP-X, and MSD V-plex. Concentrations across platforms differed greatly for some cytokines, but all platforms showed strong correlation. Results for MSD S-plex were confirmed by parallelism and knockdown. MSD S-plex should be a priority platform for ultra-sensitive assay. Olink Target 48 offers an enticing combination of sensitivity and multiplex capability that warrants consideration when many cytokines require quantitation. MSD V-plex, MSD S-plex and Olink quantitative assays offer high utility across drug development programs, but fit-for-purpose performance should be assessed on a per-analyte basis.