Signal-Boosted\nElectrochemical Lateral Flow Immunoassay\nfor Early Point-of-Care Detection of Liver Cancer Biomarker

The early diagnosis of cancer in a point-of-need manner\nis of great\nsignificance, yet it remains challenging to achieve the necessary\nsensitivity and speed. Traditional lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA)\nmethods are limited in accuracy and quantification, restricting their\nsuitability for home-based applications. Thus, we explored a new and\nuser-friendly electrochemical LFIA (e-LFIA) test strip to detect α-fetoprotein\n(AFP), a diagnostic marker for liver cancer. The specific electrochemical\nimmunoprobe utilized in this e-LFIA test strip is characterized by\nsignificant signal boosting, resulted from the loading Ag shell into\na gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-coated dendritic mesoporous silica nanoscaffold\n(DMSN). Leveraging the distinct electrochemical characteristics of\nAg anodic stripping and the high volume-to-surface area ratio of DMSNs,\nthe developed DMSNs/AuNPs@Ag-based e-LFIA test strip is capable of\ndetecting AFP at a low concentration of 0.85 ng/mL within a rapid\n20 min timespan, both of these values are smaller than those in current\nclinical testing. Furthermore, we utilized homemade screen-printed\nelectrodes in this sensing prototype and demonstrated the high versatility\nand reliability of this e-LFIA device. We envision that this DMSNs/AuNPs@Ag-based\ne-LFIA holds substantial potential for the early diagnosis of liver\ncancer and household health monitoring.