Abstract
BackgroundBlood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are widely used as diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer. Lateral-flow immunoassay (LFIA)-based PSA detection can overcome the limitations associated with other methods. LFIAbased PSA detection in clinical samples enables prognosis and early diagnosis owing to the use of high-performance signal reporters.ResultsHere, a semiquantitative LFIA platform for PSA detection in blood was developed using Au–Ag nanoparticles (NPs) assembled on silica NPs (SiO2@Au–Ag NPs) that served as signal reporters. Synthesized SiO2@Au–Ag NPs exhibited a high absorbance at a wide wavelength range (400–800 nm), with a high scattering on nitrocellulose membrane test strips. In LFIA, the color intensity of the test line on the test strip differed depending on the PSA concentration (0.30–10.00 ng/mL), and bands for the test line on the test strip could be used as a standard. When clinical samples were assessed using this LFIA, a visual test line with particular color intensity observed on the test strip enabled the early diagnosis and prognosis of patients with prostate cancer based on PSA detection. In addition, the relative standard deviation of reproducibility was 1.41%, indicating high reproducibility, and the signal reporter showed good stability for 10 days.ConclusionThese characteristics of the signal reporter demonstrated the reliability of the LFIA platform for PSA detection, suggesting potential applications in clinical sample analysis.
Highlights
Blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are widely used as diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer
Among metal nanoparti‐ cles (NPs), Au–Ag alloy NPs exhibit stronger localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) than single AuNPs or AgNPs and show various colors when the AuNP to AgNP ratio is altered [30, 31]. Based on these advantages of Au–Ag alloy NPs, our group recently reported nanostructures with Au–Ag NPs clustered on a silica core [31,32,33]. These nanostructures had a single broad absorbance peak, and the formation of optimized Au–Ag alloy NPs showed distinct colors depending on the target concentration [34, 35].in this study, we developed an Lateral-flow immunoassay (LFIA) platform using Au–Ag alloy NPs assembled on silica NPs (SiO2@Au–Ag NPs) for the visual analysis of PSA
Synthesis of SiO2@Au–Ag NPs The process used for synthesizing Au–Ag alloy NPs assembled on silica NPs (SiO2@Au–Ag NPs) is described in Fig. 1a. SiO2 NPs (160 nm) were synthesized using the Stöber method (Fig. 1b(i)) [29]
Summary
Blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are widely used as diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer. Lateral-flow immunoassay (LFIA)-based PSA detection can overcome the limitations associated with other methods. After radical prostatectomy—the standard treatment for localized PCa—measurement of serum PSA levels is important for monitoring PCa recurrence [9]. In previous studies, a cutoff value of 0.30 ng/mL PSA after curative treatment was suggested for predicting biochemical recurrence (BCR) after RT [10]. Healthy men who undergo PCa screening and patients with PCa who receive treatment and need close follow-up based on their PSA levels are forced to undergo many expensive tests, resulting in a high burden [13,14,15]. The development of an inexpensive, simple method for PSA measurement that is suitable for various applications, including assessment of prognosis, is essential
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