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. 2022 Apr 7;12(18):10950–10988. doi: 10.1039/d1ra08311b

Several recently reported AuNPs-based optical nanosensors for in vitro disease diagnosis (2015–now).

Target Nanomaterials Sensing principle LOD Linear range Real sample Ref.
Molecule/peptides
Glucose GOx-spherical AuNP (on a tapered fiber structure) LSPR (change in refractive index) 322 μM 0–10 mM — 230
Glucose 4-Cyanophenyl boronic acid (CPBA)-b-cyclodextrin (b-CD)-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) — 1–20 mM Serum 280
Glucose d-Glucose-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (AuNP growth) 0.65 mM 1.25–20 mM Human serum 234
Glucose Spherical AuNP Colorimetric (AuNP growth) 0.03 mM 0.1–10 mM Serum 281
Glucose Spherical AuNP Colorimetric (AuNP growth) 0.081 mM 0.3–5.0 mM Saliva 282
Glucose Multibranched AuNP Colorimetric (etching) 0.4 mg dL−1 — Saliva 77
1.4 mg dL−1 (real samples)
Glucose CTAB-Au nanorod Colorimetric (etching) LSPR: 0.1 μM 0.3–1.0 μM Serum 66
1.0–10 μM
Naked eye: 3 μM 3–30 μM
Glucose Chitosan-spherical AuNP Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 3 μM — 60% serum 81
Glucose Citrate-spherical AuNP FRET (donor: GOQD) 0.65 μM 2.5–75 μM Serum 232
Glucose Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric 0.043 μM 0–40 μM Urine 283
Glucose (through H2O2) 3-Mercaptophenylboronic acid (3-MPBA)-spherical AuNP SERS (change in ligand) H2O2: 70 nM 70 nM to 150 μM Serum, urine 231
Glucose: — 0.5–5 mM
Glycated hemoglobin Spherical AuNP Colorimetric (AuNP growth) 0.124% of total hemoglobin — Whole blood 236
Urea Citrate-spherical AuNP Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 5 μM 0.02–0.4 mM Human urine 284
Dopamine Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 22 nM 0.1–4 μM Human plasma, urine 285
Dopamine Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 1.85 μM 0–300 μM Urine 225
FRET 0.29 μM 0–80 μM
Glutathione Spherical AuNP (plant extract) Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 0.013 μM 1–40 μM Urine 82
Glutathione Citrate-spherical AuNP FRET 0.21 μM 3.8–415.1 μM Serum 97
 
Protein markers
Interleukin-6 Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 1.95 μg mL−1 3.3–125 μg mL−1 — 62
Hemoglobin 2,6-Diaminopurine-spherical AuNP Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 0.96 nM — Urine 80
CA15-3 Antibody-Au nanorod Colorimetric (crosslinking) — — Human serum of breast cancer 256
MUC4 (Antibody + SERS reporter)-spherical AuNP SERS — — — 257
p53 mutant Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 5 nM — — 242
CEA Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 3 ng mL−1 0.1–120 ng mL−1 Human serum 260
Erα Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (de-protection) 2.4 ng mL−1 10 ng mL−1 to 5 μg mL−1 Cellular extract 245
HER2 Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (de-protection) 10 ng mL−1 0–99 ng mL−1 10% serum 244
AFP Antibody-spherical AuNP FRET 400 pg mL−1 0.5–45 ng mL−1 Human serum 246
AFP Spherical AuNP SERS (hot-spots with antibody-AgNPs) 5 ng mL−1 0.05–10 μg mL−1 Fetal bovine serum 258
AFP-L3 Antibody-spherical AuNP SERS (conformational change in linker) 05 ng mL−1 0.5–1000 ng mL−1 Human serum 122
PSA Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 20 pg mL−1 0.1–100 ng mL−1 Human serum 259
CA-125 DNA-spherical AuNP FRET 1.5 fg mL−1 5 fg mL−1 to 50 ng mL−1 Human serum 261
 
Acid nucleic markers
p53 Aptamer-spherical AuNP FRET (donor: FAM) 1.6 pM 5 pM–1 nM — 241
BRCA1 mutation Aptamer-spherical AuNP on 2D material (GO, Bi2Se3) Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 10−18 M 10−18 to 10−12 M Extracted from patients' blood 243
PCA3 Citrate-spherical AuNP PCR + colorimetric (anti-aggregation) 31.25 ng — Urine 247
3 sequences containing melanoma DNA mutations ssDNA-spherical AuNP SERS (+PCR) 0.1% mutation (10 copies) — — 250
PCA3 mimic DNA ssDNA-hollow AuNP SERS 2.7 fM 1 fM to 100 nM — 251
microRNA Unfunctionalized spherical AuNP Colorimetric (de-protection) 0.6 nM 0.5 nM to 1 μM Total RNA extracted from cancer cells (MCF-7) and normal cells (HEK 293) 252
FRET (donor: Aptamer-AgNC) 0.4 pM 1 pM–5 252μM
 
Other markers
Tumor extracellular vesicles Aptamer-spherical AuNP SERS (creating hot-spots by organizing around an aptamer-agarose bead) 2.44 pg μL−1 0.043–1240 ng μL−1 Human serum 264
Exosome Antibody-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (plasmonic + immunoassay) 8.54 × 105 exosomes per μL 0–1.44 × 108 exosomes per μL — 286
MCF-7 breast cancer cell 150 nm spherical AuNP NIR SERS — — Human serum, plasma 128
MCF-7 breast cancer cell Aptamer-Au nanorod Colorimetric (crosslinking) 100 cells per mL 102–105 cells per mL — 265
MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell Au nanostar SERS — 10–500 cells per mL — 287
Red blood cell 2,6-Diaminopurine-spherical AuNP Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 1.6 × 106 cells per L — Urine 80
 
Infectious diseases
E. coli Chimeric phage-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) ∼102 CFU — — 169
V. cholera
P. aeruginosa
Tuberculosis (DNA) Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (de-protection) 1.95 × 10−2 ng mL−1 1.95 × 10−2 to 1.95 × 101 ng mL−1 Sample from 01 patient 268
Tuberculosis (ManLAM lipoglycan) Antibody-spherical AuNP SERS 0.8 ng mL−1 (46 pM) — Serum 269
H3N2 influenza A virus Antibody-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 7.8 HA units 10–80 HA units Clinical sample 272
Influenza viruses Glycans-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 8 HA units — Clinical sample 273
Tamiflu-resistant influenza virus Oseltamivir hexylthiol-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking + lateral flow assay) 1 × 104 PFU mL−1 — — 271
H1N1 influenza A virus Positive charged spherical AuNP Indirect colorimetric (nanozyme) 10.79 pg mL−1 10 pg mL−1 to 10 μg mL−1 Human serum 270
H3N2 influenza A virus 11.62 PFU mL−1 10–50 000 PFU mL−1
Newcastle disease virus (viral particle) Peptide–Cys-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 0.125 HA units — — 61
DEVN WVN (viral particle) Citrate-spherical AuNP SERS (hot-spot: organization of AuNP on viral particles) 10 PFU mL−1 — — 116
MERS-CoV (upE gene) Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 1 pmol μL−1 — Real sample after PCR 274
SARS-CoV-2 influenza B Sialic-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) — — Throat swab 275
MERS-CoV (viral particle)
SARS-CoV-2 (viral particle) (3 types of antibodies)-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) — — Throat swab 224
SARS-CoV-2 (viral particle) ACE2 protein/mAbs-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (plasmonic + immunoassay) 370 vp mL−1 0–107 vp mL−1 Pseudovirus 276
SARS-CoV-2 (IgM antibody) (Anti-human IgM)-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (plasmonic + immunoassay) — — Serum 86
SARS-CoV-2 (IgG antibody) Virus epitope-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (crosslinking) 3.2 nM — Real plasma samples (including patients) 277
SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein Aptamer-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (anti-aggregation) 16 nM3540 — — 279
Heat-inactivated virus Genome copies per μL
SARS-CoV-2 (protease) Citrate-spherical AuNP Colorimetric (aggregation) 10 pM 0.01–0.5 nM — 288