Abstract
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.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by National R&D Programs through National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea funded by Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of Korea (NRF-2019R1C1C1006867, NRF-2021M3H4A1A02051048, NRF-2021M3E5E3080379, NRF-2018M3A9E2022821, NRF-2020R1A2C1010453, and NRF-2021M3E5E3080844), Global Frontier Program through Center for BioNano Health-Guard funded by MSIT of Korea (H-GUARD_2013M3A6B2078950), Technology Development Program for Biological Hazards Management in Indoor Air through Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) funded by Ministry of Environment (ME) of Korea (2021003370003), Nanomedical Devices Development Program of National Nano Fab Center, and KRIBB Research Initiative Program (1711134081 and 1711134038).
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Eom, G., Hwang, A., Kim, H. et al. Ultrasensitive Detection of Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Using Au Nanoplate SERS Immunoassay. BioChip J 15, 348–355 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13206-021-00031-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13206-021-00031-2