Design of a universal biointerface for sensitive, selective, and multiplex detection of biomarkers using surface plasmon resonance imaging

This paper reports on the sensitive, selective, and simultaneous detection of four protein biomarkers involved in metastasis of various cancers, namely Fas, angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) using an antibody-conjugated quantum dot (QD) chip and surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) biosensors. Initially, a self-assembled monolayer film of L-cysteine, using glutaraldehyde as a linker and QDs as signal enhancement moieties, was employed to immobilize anti-Fas for the detection of Fas as a model protein in buffer. The biointerface was characterized using confocal microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy to provide evidence of uniform surface coverage by the QDs. The SPRi signal was enhanced 100-fold to achieve a detection limit of 25 pg mL−1 after applying biotinylated detection antibody-conjugate streptavidin-modified QDs. Secondly, this signal amplification strategy was applied to sequentially detect Fas, HER2, MMP-9, and Ang-2 at low concentrations on a protein-microprinted/gold-coated SPRi chip. The results showed the absence of cross-reactivity among these proteins and the feasibility of the approach for multiplex detection of biomarkers as required for the accurate diagnosis of various diseases.