SERS Immunosensor of Array Units Surrounded by Particles: A Platform for Auxiliary Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Mingyu Cheng,Yaxin Wang,Zhong Hua,Aonan Zhu,Lei Chen,Xiaolong Zhang,Yongjun Zhang

doi:10.3390/nano10102090

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the diseases with high mortality worldwide, so its early diagnosis and treatment have attracted much attention. Due to the advantages of the high sensitivity of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection, SERS has excellent application value in the diagnosis of HCC. In this paper, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are modified by magnetron sputtering on the surface of polystyrene (PS) templates with spheres of two different diameters. The array of units surrounded by particles is successfully prepared and the SERS performance is characterized. The effect of the gap between AgNPs on plasmon coupling and hot spot distribution is discussed. Finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulation is used to verify the electric fields and hot spot distribution of the array. The differences in the concentrations of HCC markers are analyzed by using the change of SERS signal intensity of the array. The whole process proves that the preparation of structures with a strong local electric field to provide highly sensitive SERS signals is a key link in the detection of HCC markers, which is conducive to the diagnosis of HCC and has potential application value in clinical diagnosis.

Highlights

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, killing nearly one million people each year [1,2]
AgNPs were sputtered on an etched template containing PS spheres with two diameters to participate in the plasmon coupling in the array of units surrounded by particles
In order to enhance the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal through plasmon coupling and local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of AgNPs on the array, spheres with diameters of 500 and 100 nm were introduced into the PS templates at the same time so that more sputtered AgNPs participated in plasmon coupling

Summary

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, killing nearly one million people each year [1,2]. Diagnostic research on HCC has mainly focused on the detection of associated biomarkers. With the aim of better understanding the causes, diagnoses, and treatments of diseases, the detection and analysis of the specificity and sensitivity of the biomolecules associated with HCC have never stopped [17]. Many detection methods of AFP-L3 have shortcomings, such as being operationally complex and having low sensitivity. A liquid-phase binding assay is licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration for in vitro diagnosis of AFP-L3 and is available clinically in Korea, Japan, and most European countries, but its detection limit is 0.3 ng/mL [18]. The choice of a method that can reduce the detection limit of AFP-L3 should be considered

Methods

Results

Conclusion