Applications of self-assembly strategies in immunoassays: A review

Immunoassays based on antigen–antibody specific recognition have attracted tremendous attention as simple and rapid analytical methods. The detection sensitivity and efficiency are crucial for the immunoassays of trace targets. Self-assembly strategies have been introduced into immunoassays to improve the detection performance including the sensitivity and the efficiency. The disordered components can be assembled into ordered superstructures in immunoassays to achieve high sensitivity, high efficiency, excellent accuracy, and low cost. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the recent advances of self-assembly strategies in immunoassays, including the self-assembly of substrate platforms, the self-assembly of immuno-recognition elements, the self-assembly of signal transducers, and the self-assembly of signal probes. The different approaches for the self-assembly are highlighted, and the challenges and future research trends for self-assembly-based immunoassays are addressed, which can provide valuable guidelines for the further development of high-performance immunoassays.