Development of an antigen microarray for the detection of antibodies against porcine respiratory disease complex-related pathogens

An antigen microarray system was developed for the serodiagnosis of swine antibodies against porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC)-related pathogens. PRDC is an economically significant respiratory disorder that is found mainly in 16-22-week old pigs and that is characterized by slow growth, decreased feed efficiency, lethargy, anorexia, fever, cough and dyspnea. The applicability of the microarray was evaluated using 210 swine sera samples from ten farms, and the results were compared with those obtained via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests. A high correlation between the antigen microarray and ELISA was achieved when pig sera were tested for the presence of antibodies against PCV 2 (r = 0.920, p< 0.01), PRRSV (r = 0.884, p< 0.01), APP (r = 0.793, p< 0.01) and M. hyo (r = 0.853, p< 0.01). These results indicate that the antigen microarray is a suitable assay for the detection of pathogens with a performance equivalent to that of ELISA. Moreover, the additional advantages of high throughput and reduced time and cost are significant features necessary for the diagnosis and routine herd screening of multifactorial diseases such as PRDC.