Applications of gold nanoparticles in virus detection

Abstract

Viruses are the smallest known microbes, yet they cause the most significant losses in human health. Most of the time, the best-known cure for viruses is the innate immunological defense system of the host; otherwise, the initial prevention of viral infection is the only alternative. Therefore, diagnosis is the primary strategy toward the overarching goal of virus control and elimination. The introduction of a new class of nanoscale materials with multiple unique properties and functions has sparked a series of breakthrough applications. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are widely reported to guide an impressive resurgence in biomedical and diagnostic applications. Here, we review the applications of AuNPs in virus testing and detection. The developed AuNP-based detection techniques are reported for various groups of clinically relevant viruses with a special focus on the applied types of bio-AuNP hybrid structures, virus detection targets, and assay modalities and formats. We pay particular attention to highlighting the functional role and activity of each core Au nanostructure and the resultant detection improvements in terms of sensitivity, detection range, and time. In addition, we provide a general summary of the contributions of AuNPs to the mainstream methods of virus detection, technical measures, and recommendations required in guidance toward commercial in-field applications.

Microbe‐Mediated Extracellular and Intracellular Mineralization: Environmental, Industrial, and Biotechnological Applications

“…Likewise, AuNPs and AgNPs have recently been conjugated with different viral DNA or antibodies to develop nanoprobes for detection of viruses such as the Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) corona virus, Dengu virus, different types of hepatitis viruses, herpes simplex virus, human cytomegalovirus, Kaposi sarcoma‐associated herpesvirus, human immunodeficiency virus and influenza virus. [ 357,358 ] Considering that these metallic nanoparticles can be synthesized by different bacteria and fungi, there is immense potential in utilizing microbe‐produced nanoparticles in the timely field of viral detection research.…”

Electrochemiluminescence of gold nanoparticles and gold nanoparticle-labelled antibodies as co-reactants

“…They have become a very useful tool in immunoassay and nucleic acid analysis and have been widely applied in food safety, environmental protection and clinical laboratories. [15][16][17] However, methods to detect AuNPs or AuNP-labelled substances are limited to colorimetric, photometric, electron microscopy, and photomicrography with the help of visual methods. This results in difficulties in the accurate determination of AuNPs or AuNP-labelled substances.…”

Programmable low-cost DNA-based platform for viral RNA detection

“…7,14,15 In response to some of these challenges, new techniques are being developed to detect emerging viruses. Among these are methods that adopt nanoparticles, 16,17 graphene-based biosensors, 18,19 and CRISPRbased methods, [20][21][22] to name a few. Many of these proposed strategies, although based on cutting-edge technology, require multiple reactions or signal transformation steps that may make them less suitable for a resource-limited POC setting.…”