Ratiometric upconversion nanoprobe for ultrasensitive NT-proBNP detection

Heart failure (HF) is a severe cardiovascular disease with high morbidity and mortality, creating an urgent need for rapid, accurate, and highly sensitive detection to support early diagnosis and disease assessment. Traditional diagnostic approaches, however, are limited in sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, making early and reliable detection challenging. In this work, we developed a core-shell upconversion nanoprobe with a ratiometric optical readout for highly sensitive and specific detection of heart failure-related biomarkers. The platform exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity with a wide linear detection range from 10 pg mL −1 to 100 ng mL −1 and a low detection limit of 3.0 pg mL −1 , providing stable and quantitative readouts. Leveraging antibody-mediated recognition, the nanoprobe ensures excellent target specificity. Moreover, it is successfully applied to cardiomyocyte imaging, demonstrating good biocompatibility and adaptability to the cellular environment. This study provides a practical strategy for efficient heart failure diagnosis and establishes a foundation for the broader use of upconversion nanoprobes in cardiovascular disease detection and bioimaging.