Simultaneous detection of two ovarian cancer biomarkers in human serums with biotin-enriched dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles-labeled multiplex lateral flow immunoassay

The more accurate the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, the higher the survival rate of patients. We report here the first preparation of biotin-enriched dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (BDMSNs) and successfully combined it with multiplex lateral flow immunoassay (MLFIA) for simultaneous detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers (CA125 and HE4). Benefiting from the aggregation-induced emission property of the newly synthesized shuriken-like molecules and the high affinity of biotin-streptavidin system, BDMSNs can be utilized as fluorescent signal reporters and have robust antibody enrichment properties. The linear ranges, limits of detection, and accuracies of simultaneous detection of CA125 and HE4 were evaluated by using BDMSNs-MLFIA. The results displayed that the corresponding limits of detection were 5 U/mL and 5 pM, respectively; the coefficient of variation of intra-assay and inter-assay were both less than 15 %. Compared with commercial electrochemiluminescence method, the clinical test results of BDMSNs-MLFIA have a correlation coefficient of more than 98%. BDMSNs-MLFIA initially explored the simultaneous detection of CA125 and HE4 in clinical human serum, greatly improved the practicability of LFIA and emphasizing its important role in precision medicine.