Enhancing Lateral Flow Device Design for Multiplexed Plasmonic Biosensing of Inflammatory Biomarkers

This study investigates the enhancement of plasmonic nanoparticle-based multiplexed inflammatory biomarker detection sensitivity using a novel 3×3 microarray-based lateral flow device (μALFD) design, compared to a traditional single test line format. The biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and serum amyloid A (SAA) are critical indicators of inflammation and infection. Our μALFD design demonstrated superior performance, achieving limits of detection (LODs) of 3.25 μg/mL, 0.24 ng/mL, and 1.79 μg/mL for CRP, PCT, and SAA, respectively, representing a significant improvement over the conventional test line design. By incorporating three replicates for each biomarker per μALFD strip, the microarray design improved assay reliability while reducing the risk of non-specific binding through an individual assay flow path for each test spot. These advancements highlight the potential of μALFD technology for developing more sensitive and reliable point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices, that can provide faster and more accurate clinical decision-making, particularly in resource-limited settings. Future work will explore integrating artificial intelligence (AI) readers for automated quantitative analysis to further enhance diagnostic accuracy and usability.