Background: Despite their ease of use, lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) often suffer from poor quantitative discrimination and low analytical sensitivity. We explored the use of a novel class of europium chelate-loaded silica nanoparticles as labels to overcome these limitations.
Methods: Antibodies were covalently conjugated onto europium chelate-loaded silica nanoparticles with dextran as a linker. The resulting conjugates were used as labels in LFIA for detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). We performed quantification with a digital camera and Adobe Photoshop software. We also used 286 clinical samples to compare the proposed method with a quantitative ELISA.
Results: A detection limit of 0.03 microg/L was achieved, which was 100 times lower than the colloidal gold-based LFIAs and lower than ELISA. A precise quantitative dose-response curve was obtained, and the linear measurement range was 0.05-3.13 microg/L, within which the CVs were 2.3%-10.4%. Regression analysis of LFIA on ELISA results gave: log (LFIA) = -0.14 log (ELISA) + 1.03 microg/L with r = 0.99 for the quantification of HBsAg in 35 positive serum samples. Complete agreement was observed for the qualitative comparison of 286 clinical samples assayed with LFIA and ELISA.
Conclusions: Europium chelate-loaded silica nanoparticle labels have great potential to improve LFIAs, making them useful not only for simple screening applications but also for more sensitive and quantitative immunoassays.