Alcohol Dehydrogenase-Catalyzed Gold Nanoparticle Seed-Mediated Growth Allows Reliable Detection of Disease Biomarkers with the Naked Eye.

Here, we reported a strategy-based plasmonic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using alcohol dehydrogenase-catalyzed gold nanoparticle seed-mediated growth to serve as a colorimetric signal generation method for detecting disease biomarkers with the naked eye. This system possesses the advantages of outstanding robustness, sensitivity, and universality. By using this strategy, we investigated the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) with the lowest concentration of naked-eye detection down to 1.0 × 10(-12) g mL(-1). Experiments with real serum samples from HBsAg-infected patients are presented, demonstrating the potential for clinical analysis. Our method eliminates the need for sophisticated instruments and high detection expenses, making it possible to be a reliable alternative in resource-constrained regions.