Abstract
Quantum dot is a special kind of nanomaterial composed of periodic groups of II–VI, III–V or IV–VI materials. Their high quantum yield, broad absorption with narrow photoluminescence spectra and high resistance to photobleaching, make them become a promising labeling substance in biological analysis. Here, we report a quick and parallel analytical method based on quantum dots for ToRCH-related antibodies including Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella virus, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and 2 (HSV2). Firstly, we fabricated the microarrays with the five kinds of ToRCH-related antigens and used CdTe quantum dots to label secondary antibody and then analyzed 100 specimens of randomly selected clinical sera from obstetric outpatients. The currently prevalent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were considered as “golden standard” for comparison. The results show that the quantum dots labeling-based ToRCH microarrays have comparable sensitivity and specificity with ELISA. Besides, the microarrays hold distinct advantages over ELISA test format in detection time, cost, operation and signal stability. Validated by the clinical assay, our quantum dots-based ToRCH microarrays have great potential in the detection of ToRCH-related pathogens.
Highlights
Microarrays have been an essential part of the biomarker research workflow for over 10 years
The probable reason is that the carboxyl group on the surface of Quantum dots (QDs) was covalently combined with the amino group of sheep-anti-human immunoglobulin G (IgG), reduced the surface charge of QDs, decreased the polarization rate of the surrounding molecules and reduced the Stokes displacement, resulting in a blue shift in the emission spectra [23]
The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the QDs and QDs-labeled antibody remained constant, which meant no aggregation happened to the QDs in the coupling process
Summary
Microarrays (biochips) have been an essential part of the biomarker research workflow for over 10 years. The protein microarrays are mainly applied to disease-associated serological biomarkers detection, new drug development and biomarker molecules screening. These advantages enable microarrays to become a highthroughput tool applied in the parallel analysis, which can be used to monitor simultaneously the levels of a multitude of target molecules in a single specimen. The protein microarray approaches with immobilized pathogen-related antigens were used for the parallel detection of relative antibodies in sera [5,6,7,8]. There is an increasing need for simple and sensitive analytical method for antigen or antibody detection. Take traditional colloidal gold as an example, it has been
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