Graphene-assisted plasmonic patch for sensitive fluorescence detection of prostate-specific antigen

Area of Science:

• Nanomaterial-based biosensing
• Fluorescence spectroscopy
• Biomarker detection

Background:

• Conventional fluorescence assays suffer from weak signals and high background noise, limiting diagnostic sensitivity.
• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a key biomarker for prostate cancer detection.
• Developing sensitive and specific biosensing platforms is crucial for early disease diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a dual-effect fluorescence biosensing platform integrating plasmonic enhancement and graphene-based background suppression.
• To validate the platform's efficacy for sensitive and selective detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
• To provide a generalizable strategy for early disease diagnosis and biomarker monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a plasmonic patch for signal amplification and a graphene layer for background noise suppression.
• Utilized plasmonic nanostructures to enhance fluorescence signals from PSA-specific antibodies.
• Employed graphene to quench signals from nonspecifically bound fluorophores.

Main Results:

• Achieved highly sensitive PSA detection with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.28 pg/mL.
• Demonstrated strong selectivity, distinguishing PSA from other cancer biomarkers (CA242, CA199) and proteins (CRP).
• The combined plasmonic and graphene approach significantly improved fluorescence assay performance.

Conclusions:

• The graphene-assisted plasmonic patch platform overcomes limitations of conventional fluorescence biosensing.
• This approach offers a highly sensitive and selective tool for PSA detection, crucial for prostate cancer diagnosis.
• The developed strategy is generalizable for early disease diagnosis and real-time monitoring of various biomarkers.