Signal amplification strategy for sensitive immunoassay of prostate specific antigen (PSA) based on ferrocene incorporated polystyrene spheres

•Signal amplification strategy based on Fc incorporated PS was proposed.•PS-Fc prevented the leakage of Fc and greatly amplified the immunosensor signal.•A detection limit of 1 pg mL−1 was obtained for PSA detection.•Results of PSA detection in serum samples were satisfactory.

A new kind of signal amplification strategy based on ferrocene (Fc) incorporated polystyrene spheres (PS-Fc) was proposed. The synthesized PS-Fc displayed narrow size distribution and good stability. PS-Fc was applied as label to develop immunosensors for prostate specific antigen (PSA) after the typical sandwich immunoreaction by linking anti-PSA antibody (Ab2) onto PS-Fc. After the fabrication of the immunosensor, tetrahydrofuran (THF) was dropped to dissolve PS and release the contained Fc for the following stripping voltammetric detection. PS-Fc as a new electrochemical label prevented the leakage of Fc and greatly amplified the immunosensor signal. In addition, the good biocompatibility of PS could maintain the bioactivity of the antibodies. The response current was linear to the logarithm of PSA concentration in the range from 0.01 ng mL−1 to 20 ng mL−1 with a detection limit of 1 pg mL−1. The immunosensor results were validated through the detection of PSA in serum samples with satisfactory results.

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