Electrochemical detection of carcinoembryonic antigen

In this work, a sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) detection has been constructed and tested. Unlike many other sensors using external electrochemical species in the electrolyte to generate an electrochemical signal, a ferrocene derivative has been integrated into the design of the sensor to provide an internal reporting system, allowing detection of CEA in buffers and biological samples. Gold nanoparticles, which have been used to increase the conductivity of sensing surfaces, also carry immobilized secondary anti-CEA and a ferrocene derivative. The shelf life testing of the sensor shows good performance after storage for 4 weeks. The sensor has been calibrated against different concentration of the target protein using square wave voltammetry. The calibration curve has been obtained in the range of 0.05-20 ng mL−1, and the detection limit for CEA is ~ 0.01 ng mL−1. The capability of the immunosensor has been verified by performing detection of CEA in human serum samples.