title: Sensitive protein microarray synergistically amplified by polymer brush-enhanced immobilizations of both probe and reporter.
abstract: Great challenge remains to continuously improve sensitivity of protein microarrays for broad applications. A copolymer brush is in situ synthesized on both substrate and silica nanoparticle (SNP) surface to efficiently immobilize probe and reporter protein respectively for synergistic amplification of protein microarray signals. As a demonstration, sandwich immunoassay for a cancer biomarker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) detection is performed on microarray platform, showing a limit of detection (LOD) of 10 pg/ml and dynamic range of 10 pg/ml to 100 ng/ml. Two orders improvement of LOD is achieved in comparison to the small crosslinker-activated substrate. The improved sensitivity is attributed to not only the high immobilization amount of both probe and reporter but also the favorite protein binding orientations offered by the flexible brushes. This work provides a universal approach to inexpensively and significantly improve protein microarray sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clean Energy & Advanced Materials, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, PR China.
authors.forename: Yingshuai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chun Xian
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zhisong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Chang Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D011108:Polymers; D012822:Silicon Dioxide