Rapid detection of human heart-type fatty acid-binding protein in human plasma and blood using a colloidal gold-based lateral flow immunoassay

The incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is currently increasing. Early detection is important for the treatment and prognosis of patients with AMI. Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) may be used as an early marker of AMI due to its high sensitivity, specificity and prognostic value. Therefore, in the present study, H-FABP was used as a biomarker in a double-antibody sandwich method and colloidal gold-based lateral flow immunoassay to develop a rapid detection kit for H-FABP with a processing time of only 5 min. The sensitivity of the kit in plasma and whole blood was 1 ng/ml and this method had good specificity, exhibiting no cross-reaction with cardiac troponin I, myoglobin or creatine kinase-Mb. The kits had good shelf life and stability, as they were able to be stored at 40˚C for 30 days. A total of 12 clinical samples were collected for detection and the coincidence rate with the ELISA method was up to 91.67%. Therefore, the present study provided a simple, rapid and economical early-detection in-home testing kit.