A facile and sensitive immunoassay for the detection of alpha-fetoprotein using gold-coated magnetic nanoparticle clusters and dynamic light scattering

A facile and sensitive immunoassay protocol for the detection of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was developed using gold-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoclusters and dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods. The increase in the average particle size due to AFP-mediated aggregation was measured using DLS, and the detection limit was better than 0.01 ng mL(-1).