MSD or Meso Scale Discovery is a bioanalytical method which is more or less similar to your ELISA technique except for the fact that MSD makes use of electroluminescence. The MSD is used as a detection technique as an opposition to a colorimetric reaction equipped in the ELISA technique. An electroluminescence technique such as Meso Scale Discovery has following advantages –
- Fewer matrix effects
- Better efficiencies
- Higher sensitivities
- Ability of multiplexing
- Less sample requirement
- Scaling up ability
Meso Scale Discovery Electroluminescence –
In line with the ELISA technique, the MSD assay possesses different variations. The basic principle of your ELISA can be widely used in MSD analysis with several vital differences allowing the improvements of both the sensitivity and dynamic ranges.
While performing a sandwiched ELISA technique, capture antibodies are immobilized on to the bottommost surface of your MSD well. This MSD electrode consists of an electrode rather than containing a plastic.
One of the key advantages of your MSD assay is its ability to simultaneously analyzing different analytes within the same well. You have a CCD camera installed within your MSD instrument, which helps in the identification of antibodies located at ten different locations within one single well. This facilitates the simultaneous analysis of ten different analytes present within the same sample.
Multiplexing has several different advantages. First of all, it is considered as one of the most efficient ways of analyzing multiple molecules using a single sample under investigation. By multiplexing, a single MSD plate can be used as a replacement to 10 more traditional ELISA plates. Additionally, MSD, along with multiplexing, forms an ideal solution for analyzing a panel containing ten analytes with less than 50-fold samples than what can be analyzed using your traditional ELISA. The recent improvements achieved in the field of clinical efficiency of the pharmaceutical drug candidate and the relatively smaller amount of sample is the reason for the recent switchover to the increasing use of the MSD multiplexing for analyzing clinical samples.
MSD Immunogenicity Assays –
Performing immunogenicity testing with the help of the MSD platform offers a lot of advantages over the conventional ELISA technique by reducing matrix effects, exhibiting an increased dynamic range, and providing high throughput options.
Cell-based assays using MSD –
Meso Scale Discovery platform aids in the development of challenging cell-based assays by increasing their overall efficiency. MSD assays play an important contributing role in following stages across the cell-based assays –
· Screening for antibodies in opposition with the cell surface proteins
· Ligand receptor inhibition assays
· Hybridoma screening
· Immunogenicity Nab assays
MSD Biomarker Assays –
Biomarker assays are used for determining the mechanism of action (MOA), as a diagnosis tool, and as safety profiling indicators. Most importantly, the ability of Meso Scale Discovery Electroluminescence Assay facilitates rapid protein biomarker screening for efficient discovery programs of the protein biomarkers.
Comparison between ELISA and MSD assays-
Differentiating contents | ELISA assay | MSD assay |
Multiplexing panels | No | 10 analytes simultaneously |
Matrix effects | Yes | Greatly reduced |
Wash steps | Many | Typically 1 to 3 |
Rapid throughput | No | Yes |
Instrument maintenance | Daily calibration and cleaning | No user maintenance is required here |
Simple protocols | No | Yes |
Read times | Slow | Up to 960 results within 1 to 3 minutes |