Simultaneous electrochemical immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein and prostate specific antigen using a glassy carbon electrode modified with gold nanoparticle-coated silica nanospheres and decorated with Azure A or ferrocenecarboxylic acid

Abstract

We describe an electrochemical immunosensor for the simultaneous determination of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) via a modified glassy carbon electrode. Silica nanoparticles (200–300 nm i.d.) with good monodispersity and uniform shape were synthesized, and the following species were then consecutively immobilized on their surface: gold nanoparticles (AuNPs; 5–15 nm i.d.), secondary antibody (Ab2) and the redox-probes Azure A or ferrocenecarboxy acid (Fc). In parallel, two types of primary antibodies (Ab1) were co-immobilized on the surface of the dissolved reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) that were also decorated with AuNPs. In the presence of antigens (AFP or PSA), the Ab2/Si@AuNPs carrying Azure A and Fc are attached to the AuNP/rGO conjugate via a sandwich type immunoreaction. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was employed to measure the resulting changes in the signal of Fc or Azure A. Two well-resolved oxidation peaks, one at −0.48 V (corresponding to Azure A) and other at + 0.12 V (corresponding to Fc; both vs. SCE) can be observed in the DPV curves. Under optimal conditions, AFP and PSA can be simultaneously determined in the range from 0.01 to 25 ng mL‾1 for AFP, and from 0.012 to 25 ng mL‾1 for PSA. The detection limits are 3.3 pg mL‾1 for AFP and 4.0 pg mL‾1 for PSA (at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3). The method was applied to (spiked) real sample analysis, and the recoveries are within 96.0 and 107.2 % for PSA, and within 100.9 and 105.8 % for AFP, indicating that this dual immunosensor matches the requirements of clinical analysis.