A Fe3O4@Au-basedpseudo-homogeneous electrochemical immunosensor for AFP measurement using AFP antibody-GNPs-HRP as detection probe

•A Fe3O4@Au-based pseudo-homogeneous electrochemical AFP immunosensor was prepared.•The Ab1 immobilized Fe3O4@Au NPs was assembled as the capture probe.•HRP and Ab2 functionalized GNPs was designed as the detection probe.•The sensor showed a dynamic response in linear dependency upon AFP concentration.•The AFP immunosensor exhibited high sensitivity and good stability.

In this study, a Fe3O4@Au-based pseudo-homogeneous electrochemical immunosensor was prepared for detection of alpha fetoprotein (AFP), a well-known hepatocellular carcinoma biomarker. The primary antibody (Ab1) was immobilized on Fe3O4@Au NPs as the capture probe. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and secondary antibody (Ab2) were conjugated on gold nanoparticles (GNPs) through electrostatic adsorption to form signal-amplifying labels. In the presence of AFP, a sandwich immunocomplex was formed via specific recognition of antigen-antibody in a Fe3O4@Au-basedpseudo-homogeneousreaction system. After the immunocomplex was captured to the surface of magnetic glassy carbon electrode (MGCE), the labeling HRP catalyzed the decomposition of H2O2, resulting in a substantial current for the quantitative detection of AFP. The amperometric (i-t) method was employed to record the response signal of the immunosensor based on the catalysis of the immobilized HRP toward the reduction of H2O2 with hydroquinone (HQ) as the redox mediator. Under the optimal conditions, the amperometric current response presented a linear relationship with AFP concentration over the range of 20 ng/mL-100 ng/mLwith a correlation coefficient of 0.9940, and the detection limit was 0.64 ng/mL at signal/noise [S/N] = 3. Moreover, the electrochemical immunosensor exhibited higher anti-interference ability, acceptable reproducibility and long-term stability for AFP detection.

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