Effective treatment of ovarian cancer depends upon the early detection of the malignancy. Here, we report on the development of a new nanostructured immunosensor for early detection of cancer antigen 125 (CA-125). A gold electrode was modified with mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), and then consecutively conjugated with silica coated gold nanoparticles (AuNP@SiO2), CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and anti-CA-125 monoclonal antibody (mAb). The engineered MPA|AuNP@SiO2|QD|mAb immunosensor was characterised using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Successive conjugation of AuNP@SiO2, CdSe QD and anti-CA-125 mAb onto the gold electrode resulted in sensitive detection of CA-125 with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0016 U mL(-1) and a linear detection range (LDR) of 0-0.1 U mL(-1). Based on the high sensitivity and specificity of the immunosensor, we propose this highly stable and reproducible biosensor for the early detection of CA-125.

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A new dual-modality immunosensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and a nanostructured biosensing layer has fabricated for the simultaneous detection of two important markers including prostatespecific antigen (PSA) and myoglobin (Myo) in human serum and urine samples. In the first step, 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid di(N-hydroxysuccinimide ester) (DSP) was self-assembled on a gold screen printed electrode (SPE). Then, the target proteins were attached covalently to the DSP-SPE. The imprinted cocktail polymer ((MIP (PSA, Myo)-SPE)) was synthesized at the SPE surface using acrylamide as monomer, N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinker, and PSA and Myo as the templates, respectively. The MIP-SPE was specific for the impedimetric sensing of PSA and Myo. After that, a nanocomposite (NCP) was synthesized based on the decorated magnetite nanoparticles with multi-walled carbon nanotube, graphene oxide and specific antibody for PSA (Ab). Then, NCP incubated with (MIP(PSA, Myo)-SPE. The modified electrodes and synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, surface plasmon resonance and scanning electron microscopy. The limits of detections were found to be 5.4 pg mL −1 and 0.83 ng mL −1 with the linear dynamic ranges of 0.01-100 and 1-20000 ng mL −1 for PSA and Myo, respectively. The ability of proposed biosensor to detect PSA and Myo simultaneously with high sensitivity and specificity offers a powerful opportunity for the new generation of biosensors. This dual-analyte specific receptors-based device is highly desired for the integration with lab-on-chip kits to measure a wide panel of biomarkers present at ultralow levels during early stages of diseases progress.

Green and simple synthesis strategies have gained tremendous popularity for the production of anisotropically-shaped noble metallic nanoparticles. The long-term stability of the produced particles, the short timescale of the target reaction(s), as well as the use of non-toxic chemicals, are pivotal features of a useful green procedure. Herein we describe a simple and convenient wet-chemical approach to synthesize stable, non-toxic and watersoluble small gold nanotriangles (GNTs) and gold nanospheres (GNSs) in one step at room temperature, using Tween 20 and Tween 80, respectively. A high level of purity and monodispersity was obtained for the GNTs, in addition to an excellent colloidal stability of both GNTs and GNSs in media exhibiting a high ionic strength and over a wide pH range. The presented strategy, which exploits the dual functional properties of Tween as a co-reducing and stabilizing agent, eliminates the presence of hazardous chemicals such as toxic surfactants, hazardous organic solvents and harsh reducing agents during the synthesis process, and hence could pave the way for the facile usage of the spherical and triangular gold nanoparticles for clinical or biological applications.The resulted particles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy.

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In this work, we demonstrated the development of a colorimetric immunosensor using surface plasmon resonance band of gold nanoparticles for the detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA). To develop this biosensing tool, triangular gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized using Tween-20 as a nonionic surfactant and then, conjugated with PSA capture antibody (Ab 1-AuNPs). When exposed to Ab 1-AuNPs, PSA antigens were found to be successfully captured by nanosystem (PSA)-Ab 1-AuNPs. Next, (PSA)-Ab 1-AuNPs were incubated with second PSA antibody (2)-decorated magnetite (Fe 3 O 4-Ab 2) and separated by an external magnetic force to leave Ab 1-AuNPs in the supernatant solution to be directly analyzed using UV-Vis spectroscopy. It was found that the absorption intensity was directly proportional to the PSA concentration. As a result, the linear range for PSA detection was found to be 0.01-20 ng mL −1 with a detection limit of 0.009 ng mL −1. Because of significant stability of the prepared Ab 1-AuNPs and excellent selectivity to the PSA antigen, this simple and sensitive sensing system is proposed to be potentially effective in the fast and real-time analysis of clinical samples from prostate cancer patients. We believe that the simple platform of this immunosensor to be useful in the development of future point-of-care sensing tools, working on the quantification of biomarkers in a drop of blood.

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