Plasmonic Nanosensors for EGFR Detection: Optimizing Aptamer-Based Competitive Displacement Assays

This study presents a comparative investigation of plasmonic sensing platforms based on colloidal gold nanoparticle (AuNP) suspensions and gold film over nanosphere (AuFoN) solid substrates for the detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), an essential biomarker and therapeutic target in oncology. The strategy relies on fluorescence emission modulation of an Atto647N-labeled DNA oligomer competitively bound to an EGFR-specific aptamer. Our results demonstrate that the colloidal AuNPs can function as competitive binding sensors, leading to fluorescence quenching upon fluorophore attachment to the surface of the NPs and partial fluorescence recovery due to EGFR-induced displacement of the fluorophore-aptamer complex. This specificity was confirmed by reversed binding experiments. However, the system proved highly sensitive to the experimental design: excessive washing (centrifugation) led to unspecific aggregation and signal loss, while reduced washing steps improved signal retention and revealed EGFR-induced fluorophore displacement into the supernatant. On the contrary, film-based substrates exhibited strong initial fluorescence, but failed to retain the fluorophore-aptamer complex after washing, resulting in fluorescence decay independent of EGFR incubation. This indicates that AuFoN lacked the binding stability necessary for specific displacement-based sensing. These findings highlight that while colloidal AuNPs can support competitive binding detection, their reproducibility is limited by colloidal stability and protocol sensitivity, whereas AuFoN substrates require improved surface functionalization strategies. The study emphasizes the critical role of surface chemistry, aptamer-fluorophore affinity, and washing protocols in determining the success or failure of plasmon-enhanced aptamer-based biosensing systems and suggests opportunities for improving specificity and robustness in future designs.