Biotin–avidin amplified magnetic immunoassay for hepatitis B surface antigen detection using GoldMag nanoparticles

Abstract Using GoldMag ( Fe 3 O 4 / Au ) nanoparticles as a carrier, a biotin–avidin amplified ELISA was developed to detect hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). A specific antibody was labeled with biotin and then used to detect the antigen with an antibody coated on GoldMag nanoparticles by a sandwich ELISA assay. The results showed that 5 mol of biotin were surface bound per mole of antibody. The biotin–avidin amplified ELISA assay has a higher sensitivity than that of the direct ELISA assay. There is 5-fold difference between HBsAg positive and negative serum even at dilution of 1:10000, and the relative standard deviation of the parallel positive serum at dilution of 1:4000 is 5.98% ( n = 11 ) .