Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women. In particular, it is a high cause of mortality among women in industrialized countries. Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) has recently emerged as a serological biomarker for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Herein, we report the ultrasensitive detection of HE4 using a gold (Au) nanoplate (NPl)-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) immunoassay, wherein a capture antibody-immobilized Au NPl acts as an immune substrate and detection antibody-immobilized Au nanoparticles (NPs) serve as immunoprobes. The presence of the target biomarker (HE4) results in the formation of a sandwich structure of Au NPls and NPs, providing strong SERS signals. The developed method allows us to detect HE4 at low concentrations of 10^–17 M. The selective detection of HE4 was verified using the Au NPl SERS immunoassay. We anticipate that the current approach could be helpful for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and eventually applied for diverse biomarker detection.

卵巢癌是女性癌症相关死亡的第五大原因。特别是，它是工业化国家妇女死亡的一个重要原因。人类附睾蛋白 4 (HE4) 最近已成为诊断卵巢癌的血清学生物标志物。在此，我们报告了使用基于金 (Au) 纳米板 (NPl) 的表面增强拉曼散射 (SERS) 免疫测定法对 HE4 的超灵敏检测，其中捕获抗体固定的 Au NPl 作为免疫底物和检测抗体固定的 Au纳米颗粒（NP）用作免疫探针。目标生物标志物 (HE4) 的存在导致 Au NPs 和 NPs 的夹心结构的形成，提供强 SERS 信号。开发的方法使我们能够检测 10 ^{–17 的}低浓度 HE4 M. HE4 的选择性检测使用 Au NP1 SERS 免疫测定进行验证。我们预计目前的方法可能有助于卵巢癌的早期诊断，并最终应用于多种生物标志物检测。