Combating Prozone Effects and Predicting the Dynamic Range of Naked-Eye Nanoplasmonic Biosensors through Capture Bioentity Optimization

Zoe Bradley, Nikhil Bhalla

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Accurately quantifying high analyte concentrations poses a challenge due to the common occurrence of the prozone or hook effect within sandwich assays utilized in plasmonic nanoparticle-based lateral flow devices (LFDs). As a result, LFDs are often underestimated compared to other biosensors with concerns surrounding their specificity and sensitivity toward the target analyte. To address this limitation, here we develop an analytical model capable of predicting the prozone effect and subsequently the dynamic range of the biosensor based on the concentration of the capture antibody. To support our model, we conduct a sandwich immunoassay to detect C-reactive protein (CRP) in a phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer using an LFD. Within the experiment, we investigate the relationship between the CRP dynamic range and the prozone effect as a function of the capture antibody concentration, which is increased from 0.1 to 2 mg/mL. The experimental results, while supporting the developed analytical model, show that increasing the capture antibody concentration increases the dynamic range. The developed model therefore holds the potential to expand the measurable range and reduce costs associated with quantifying biomarkers in diverse diagnostic assays. This will ultimately allow LFDs to have better clinical significance before the prozone effect becomes dominant.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)452-458
Number of pages7
JournalACS Measurement Science Au
Volume4
Issue number4
Early online date8 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 21 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

Keywords

  • biosensors
  • hook-effect
  • nanoplasmonics
  • mathematical-modeling
  • lateral flow devices
  • gold nanoparticles

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