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Electrochemiluminescence ultrasensitive immunoassay for carbohydrate antigen 125 based on AgInS2/ZnS nanocrystals

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Abstract

We developed a near-infrared (NIR) electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor for sensitively and selectively determining carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) with toxic-element-free and environmental-friendly AgInS2/ZnS nanocrystals (NCs) as tags. The core/shell-structured AgInS2/ZnS NCs not only can be conveniently prepared via an aqueous synthetic procedure, but also has high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of up to 61.7%, highly monodispersed, water-soluble, and desired biological compatibility. As AgInS2/ZnS NCs can be oxidized via electrochemically injecting holes into their valence band at + 0.84 V, both the monodispersed AgInS2/ZnS NCs in solution and the surface-confined AgInS2/ZnS NCs immobilized in sandwich-typed immuno-complexes with CA125 as analyte can exhibit efficient oxidative-reduction ECL around 695 nm under physiological conditions with the presence of tri-n-propylamine (TPrA). The ECL intensity from the AgInS2/ZnS NCs immobilized in sandwich-typed immuno-complexes increases linearly and selectively with an increased concentration of CA125 from 5 × 10−6 to 5 × 10−3 U/mL, and limit of detection (LOD) was 1 × 10−6 U/mL (S/N = 3). This reliable platform can provide an effective detection method in the early diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.

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Funding

The work in this paper received support from the Shandong Keypoint Research & Development Plan (grant references: 2018GSF117006, and 2019GSF109063), Shandong Province TaiShan Scholar Program (ts20190948), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant references: 21703126).

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Author notes

  1. Min Yin and Yan Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong Analysis and Testing Center, Key Laboratory for Applied Technology of Sophisticated Analytical Instrument of Shandong Province, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China

    Min Yin, Yan Wang, Shichao Du, Yan Cheng, Shuai Yu & Fumin Xue

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, Shandong, China

    Xuwen Gao & Guizheng Zou

Authors
  1. Min Yin
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  2. Yan Wang
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  3. Xuwen Gao
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  4. Shichao Du
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  5. Yan Cheng
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  6. Shuai Yu
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  8. Fumin Xue
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fumin Xue.

Ethics declarations

The human serum samples in this study were bought from Beijing Century Aoke Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China). In addition, these studies were approved by the ethics committee of Qilu University of Technology, and in accordance with the ethical standards “Qilu University of Technology” and with the 1964 declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Yin, M., Wang, Y., Gao, X. et al. Electrochemiluminescence ultrasensitive immunoassay for carbohydrate antigen 125 based on AgInS2/ZnS nanocrystals. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 2207–2215 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03191-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03191-0

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