Simultaneous determination of human Enterovirus 71 and Coxsackievirus B3 by dual-color quantum dots and homogeneous immunoassay.

Human Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) have high risks for morbidity and mortality. A virus quantitation immunoassay has been proposed by employing two colored quantum dots (QDs), antibodies of the virus, and graphene oxide (GO). The QDs are streptavidin-conjugated quantum dots (SA-QDs), and the antibodies are biotinylated antibodies. Biotinylated EV71 antibody (Ab1) was associated with 525 nm green colored SA-QDs via biotin-streptavidin interaction forming QDs-Ab1, whereas biotinylated CVB3 antibody (Ab2) was associated with 605 nm red colored SA-QDs via biotin-streptavidin interaction forming QDs-Ab2. GO was an excellent quencher to the fluorescence of both QDs-Ab1 and QDs-Ab2. The targets of EV71 and CVB3 can break up the complex of QDs-Ab and GO, recovering the fluorescence of QDs-Ab1 and QDs-Ab2, respectively. Using these two different colored QDs-Ab fluorescence recovery intensities upon the addition of targets EV71 and CVB3, the two enteroviruses can be simultaneously quantitatively determined with a single excitation light. The detection limits of EV71 and CVB3 are 0.42 and 0.39 ng mL(-1) based on 3 times signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. More importantly, this strategy can be further used as a universal method for any protein or virus determination by changing the conjugated antibodies in disease early diagnosis, which can provide a fast and promising clinical approach for virus differentiation and determination. In a word, a simple, fast, sensitive, and highly selective assay for EV71 and CVB3 has been developed. It could be applied in clinical sample analysis with a satisfactory result. It was notable that the sensor could not only achieve rapid and precise quantitative determination of protein/virus by fluorescent intensity but also could be applied in semiquantitative protein/virus determination by digital visualization.