Lateral flow immunoassays: challenges and innovations

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• Lateral flow immunoassays (LFAs) are widely used for rapid, portable, and cost-effective detection of analytes.
• Their application is crucial in low-resource settings and for timely clinical decision-making.
• Despite advantages, limitations such as insufficient sensitivity, poor reproducibility, and quantification challenges hinder widespread adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the current state of lateral flow immunoassay technology.
• To identify key challenges limiting the performance and adoption of LFAs.
• To highlight recent advancements addressing these limitations and discuss future directions.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent literature on lateral flow immunoassay advancements.
• Focus on innovations in nanomaterials and detection systems (e.g., surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy).
• Analysis of strategies to overcome issues like the hook effect and improve quantification.

Main Results:

• Nanomaterials and advanced detection systems show promise in enhancing LFA sensitivity and accuracy.
• Technological improvements are addressing challenges related to reproducibility and multiplexing.
• Development of integrated systems aims to provide reliable quantitative results.

Conclusions:

• Ongoing research is overcoming critical limitations of lateral flow immunoassays.
• Future LFAs will likely be integrated, closed-box systems offering high performance.
• Multidisciplinary approaches are essential for advancing diagnostic tool reliability and practicality.