Gold nanoparticle-based low limit of detection Love wave biosensor for carcinoembryonic antigens

Shuangming Li; Ying Wan; Yan Su; Chunhai Fan; Venkat R Bhethanabotla

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2017.04.012

Gold nanoparticle-based low limit of detection Love wave biosensor for carcinoembryonic antigens

Biosens Bioelectron. 2017 Sep 15:95:48-54. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2017.04.012. Epub 2017 Apr 12.

Authors

Shuangming Li¹, Ying Wan², Yan Su², Chunhai Fan², Venkat R Bhethanabotla³

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China; Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.
³ Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA. Electronic address: bhethana@usf.edu.

PMID: 28412660
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2017.04.012

Abstract

In this work, a Love wave biosensing platform is described for detecting cancer-related biomarker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). An ST 90°-X quartz Love wave device with a layer of SiO₂ waveguide was combined with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) to amplify the mass loading effect of the acoustic wave sensor to achieve a limit of detection of 37pg/mL. The strategy involves modifying the Au NPs with anti-CEA antibody conjugates to form nanoprobes in a sandwich immunoassay. The unamplified detection limit of the Love wave biosensor is 9.4ng/mL. This 2-3 order of magnitude reduction in the limit of detection brings the SAW platform into the range useful for clinical diagnosis. Measurement electronics and microfluidics are easily constructed for acoustic wave biosensors, such as the Love wave device described here, allowing for robust platforms for point of care applications for cancer biomarkers in general.

Keywords: Biosensors; CEA; Gold nanoparticles; Love wave; Surface acoustic wave.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Carcinoembryonic Antigen / chemistry
Carcinoembryonic Antigen / isolation & purification*
Gold / chemistry
Humans
Immunoassay*
Limit of Detection
Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
Silicon Dioxide / chemistry

Substances

Carcinoembryonic Antigen
Gold
Silicon Dioxide