Immunochromatography Lateral Flow Strip Enhancement Based on Passive Gold Nanoparticles Conjugation to Detect Schistosma haematobium Antigens in Human Serum

This study aimed to develop and evaluate a lateral flow card for the detection of active Schistosoma haematobium infection.

In order to prepare the immunochromatography lateral flow strip (ICLFS), antibodies purified from schistosomiasis were conjugated passively with gold nanoparticles using a potassium carbonate buffer.

The novel ICLFS was able to correctly identify 64 out of 67 samples of schistosomiasis, 6 out of 90 samples of other parasites, and 0 out of 27 control samples. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value (PPV) were 95.5%, 93.3%, 90%, and 91.4% respectively. Comparatively, the sensitivity, specificity, NPV, and PPV of sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) conjugated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were 91.1%, 88.8%, 85.9%, and 84.4% respectively. The increased sensitivity and specificity of ICLFS produced superior results to those of sandwich ELISA.

In conclusion, ICLFS is more beneficial and precise than sandwich ELISA for detection of S. haematobium infection at early stage.