SERS-Based Pump-Free Microfluidic Chip for Highly Sensitive Immunoassay of Prostate-Specific Antigen Biomarkers

Highly sensitive analysis of cancer biomarkers demonstrates an important impact in early diagnosis and therapies of cancer. A novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) based immunoassay using microfluidic technique was reported for rapid analysis of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) biomarker. It is a useful screening test to discriminate prostate cancer and other diseases related to prostate. A “sandwich” immunoassay based on SERS nanotags, PSA biomarkers, and magnetic beads was applied on a pump-free microfluidic sensor. Magnetic immunocomplexes are isolated and trapped at the detection chamber by a permanent magnet integrated into the chip. The PBS buffer washed magnetic immunocomplexes and brought the free gold nanoparticles to the downsteam channel for waste. Our results show a good linear response in the range from 0.01 to 100 ng mL –1 . The limit of detection of the PSA level is estimated to be below 0.01 ng mL –1 using this chip. This detection level of PSA biomarker in human serum can be accomplished in 5 min without manual incubation and a heavy syringe pump. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first SERS-based immunoassay which applied a pump-free microfluidic chip as a detection platform. We believe that the proposed method reveals a valuable potential tool for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.