Olink^® Proteomics Multiplex Analysis White Paper

Multiplex Analysis of Inflammatory Proteins: A Comparative Study Across Multiple Platforms

Multiplexing technologies are often challenged by cross-reactive binding and assay interference, which can contribute to signal readout and reduce specificity, particularly as the degree of multiplexing increases. These limitations make it difficult to confidently measure inflammatory protein biomarkers across complex biological samples.

Olink®’s proprietary Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology addresses these challenges through a dual-recognition approach, using matched antibody pairs labeled with complementary DNA oligonucleotides. A measurable signal is generated only when both antibodies bind the same target protein, helping to minimize off-target effects and improve assay specificity.

This white paper presents a comparative evaluation of Olink technology relative to two commonly used multiplex proteomics platforms, Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) and Bio-Rad/Luminex, that are widely applied in inflammatory protein and cytokine biomarker research.

What You’ll Learn:

• How cross-reactivity, interference, and multiplex scaling impact data quality in antibody-based proteomics assays
• A head-to-head comparison of three multiplex proteomics platforms (Olink, MSD, and Bio-Rad/Luminex) using overlapping inflammatory protein targets
• How each platform performs across key analytical metrics, including detectability, dynamic range, precision (%CV), dilution series parallelism, and linearity
• Practical differences in sample volume requirements and assay design considerations for inflammatory biomarker studies