Authors: Ricky Y T Chiu Phuong T Nguyen Juntian Wang Erik Jue Benjamin M Wu Daniel T Kamei
Publish Date: 2014/05/30
Volume: 42, Issue: 11, Pages: 2322-2332
Abstract
The lateralflow immunoassay LFA is a wellestablished pointofcare detection assay that is rapid inexpensive easy to use and portable However its sensitivity is lower than that of traditional labbased assays Previously we improved the sensitivity of LFA by concentrating the target biomolecules using aqueous twophase systems ATPSs prior to their detection In this study we report the firstever utilization of dextrancoated gold nanoprobes DGNPs as the colorimetric indicator for LFA In addition the DGNPs are the key component in our preconcentration process where they remain stable and functional in the high salt environment of our ATPS solution capture the target protein with conjugated antibodies and allow the rapid concentration of the target protein in our ATPS for use in the subsequent LFA detection step By combining this preconcentration step with LFA the detection limit of LFA for a model protein was improved by 10fold We further improved our ATPS from previous studies by enabling phase separation at room temperature in 30 min By using DGNPs for the concentration and detection of protein biomarkers in the sequential combination of the ATPS and LFA steps we move closer to developing an effective protein detection assay which uses no power or labbased equipment
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