An ultrasensitive streptavidin-functionalized carbon nanotubes platform for chemiluminescent immunoassay

• An ultrasensitive chemiluminescent (CL) immunoassay strategy was developed.
• This assay was preformed based on a streptavidin-functionalized MWCNTs platform.
• The sensitivity displays 7.9-fold increase compared to that without MWCNTs.
• This method provides a promising approach for ultrasensitive CL immunoassay.

An ultrasensitive chemiluminescent (CL) immunoassay system was developed for the detection of tumor marker. This sandwich CL assay method was for the first time designed based on a highly efficient streptavidin-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) platform. The glass slide was firstly silylanized with 3-gycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) to generate surface epoxy group functionality. Subsequently, the MWCNTs/chitosan solution was mixed with streptavidin solution, and a certain amount of the resulting suspension was dropped on the surface of the epoxy-activated glass substrate to form a firm streptavidin-functionalized MWCNTs platform. The biofunctionalized-MWCNTs platform shows large reactive surface area and excellent biocompatibility. The capture antibody can be efficiently immobilized on the biosensing platform surface based on the highly selective recognition of streptavidin to biotinylated antibody. Using α-fetoprotein (AFP) as model analyte, the proposed method exhibits wide linear range of 0.001–0.1 ng mL−1 with a low detection limit down to 0.52 pg mL−1. The CL immunoassay system displays 7.9-fold increase in the detection sensitivity compared to the immunosensor without using MWCNTs. Moreover, the resulting immunosensor demonstrates excellent specificity, good reproducibility, and acceptable stability. This streptavidin-functionalized MWCNTs platform opens a novel and promising avenue for fabricating ultrasensitive CL immunoassay system.

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