(May 05, 2020)

The Salimetrics Salivary Total IgM ELISA Kit expands accessibility of screening for acute and recent exposure to specific disease targets by qualifying easy-to-collect oral fluid/saliva samples for use in serological studies of infectious diseases.

As the world adapts to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease epidemiologists and public health officials need tools to enable surveillance at scale. More so than ever, our need to understand who has and who hasn’t been exposed seems paramount. This is especially true when some individuals who have been exposed express disease symptoms while others do not. Research is needed to decipher how to interpret what “exposure without symptoms” means in terms of individual and public health in the short and longer term.

Saliva and oral fluids provide investigators and public health officials a minimally invasive means of obtaining biospecimens at scale. Studies show that saliva collection is preferred over more traditional biospecimen collection protocols (e.g., venipuncture, finger stick, nasopharyngeal swab) and that samples can be self-collected here, there, and almost everywhere with minimal training. In an effort to advance the science, Salimetrics introduces a new ELISA Kit to measure human total Immunoglobulin M (IgM) in saliva and oral fluids.

The Salimetrics Total IgM Assay Kit quantifies levels of total human IgM in saliva and other oral fluids, which can be used for sample quality assurance and as inclusion criteria when using oral fluid as an alternative sample type for serological studies. Pathogen specific IgM is indicative of recent acute exposure, and when used together with total IgM, researchers can confidently track outbreak scenarios and minimize false negatives due to inadequate total IgM levels using the convenience of oral fluid sampling.

Immunoglobulin M (IgM) is present in two major forms in the circulation. Natural IgM is a low-affinity pentameric molecule that binds to invading pathogens without requiring prior exposure. This form acts to directly neutralize viruses, activate complement, trigger phagocytosis, and drive antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity. Adaptive IgM is the first antibody produced in response to invading pathogens and functions in a similar way to natural IgM but is a high-affinity molecule. The majority of IgM is pentameric and includes the J chain which is also a key structural component found in polymeric IgA. IgM also naturally forms hexamers, however, in this case the J chain is absent.

In serology studies, the detection of pathogen specific IgM is often used as an indication of recent exposure and has more utility as a marker during an infectious disease outbreak. The major source of IgM in oral fluid is serum leaking from the gingiva. For salivary measures of pathogen specific IgM, total IgM should be used to qualify the salivary sample to ensure there are adequate levels of total IgM to detect the disease specific IgM of interest.

The Salimetrics Total Salivary IgM Assay Kit features a small test volume of 10 µL, dynamic range of 0.39 – 25 ng/mL, lower limit of detection of 0.03 ng/mL, and average inter and intra-assay coefficients of variation less than 10%. The assay is provided in a standard 96-well plate format for single use and is also available in bulk packaging for high-throughput applications. The new salivary IgM assay takes its place alongside the recently released Salimetrics Salivary Total Human IgG Assay Kit. Together, these assays assure the quality of oral fluid/saliva samples and therefore improve specificity and sensitivity of corresponding pathogen specific serological assays. Saliva collection has been validated with SalivaBio’s oral fluid/saliva collection protocols and follows the same convenient and reproducible methods that SalivaBio has provided the scientific community for years.

Salimetrics is a key partner in best-in-class solutions to salivary bioscience research. By using Salimetrics products and services, researchers can experience solutions to problems where the full potential of salivary measures have yet to be realized. To learn more about the new Salivary IgM Assay Kit, researchers can visit the Salimetrics Website, or contact expert researcher support to integrate salivary IgM into their current or future research study.

About Salimetrics
Salimetrics’ assay kits and CLIA-certified testing services are used to measure salivary analytes related to stress, behavior and development, inflammation, sleep, reproduction, health and immune function. Founded in 1998 by Douglas A. Granger, Ph.D., Salimetrics, LLC support CROs, pharmaceuticals, academic researchers and the immunodiagnostic industry around the world with innovative immunoassay products, non-invasive saliva collection methods, and laboratory testing services.

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