Photonic crystal barcodes assembled from dendritic silica nanoparticles for the multiplex immunoassays of ovarian cancer biomarkers.

The combined detection of CA125, CEA and AFP is of great significance in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Photonic crystal (PhC) barcodes have apparent advantages in multiplex immunoassays of ovarian cancer markers. In this paper, a novel PhC barcode was assembled from dendritic silica nanoparticles (dSiO2) for multiplex detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers. The interconnected macroporous structure of the dSiO2 PhC beads and the open porous topography of dendritic silica particles could increase the surface area to volume ratio for antibody immobilization. We simultaneously detected multiple ovarian cancer markers in one test tube using the sandwich immunization method by utilizing dSiO2 PhC beads as a barcode and CdTe QDs as a detection signal. The detection limits of the three ovarian cancer markers, AFP, CEA and CA125, were 0.52 ng mL-1, 0.64 ng mL-1 and 0.79 U mL-1, respectively (the signal-to-noise ratio was 3). Compared with the classic silica colloidal crystal bead (SCCB) suspension array, the sensitivity of the dSiO2 PhC bead suspension array was increased. In addition, the results showed that this barcode suspension array had acceptable accuracy and good reproducibility.