{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T20:34:54Z","timestamp":1773434094066,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,15]],"date-time":"2021-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1623715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Korean Health Technology R&amp;D Project, Ministry of Health &amp; Welfare","award":["HI17C1264"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HI17C1264"]}]},{"name":"WTU Joint Research Grant of Konkuk University in 2017","award":["2017- A019-0334"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017- A019-0334"]}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT)","award":["2019R1F1A1063454"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019R1F1A1063454"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the best-known biomarker for early diagnosis of prostate cancer. For prostate cancer in particular, the threshold level of PSA &lt;4.0 ng\/mL in clinical samples is an important indicator. Quick and easy visual detection of the PSA level greatly helps in early detection and treatment of prostate cancer and reducing mortality. In this study, we developed optimized silica-coated silver-assembled silica nanoparticles (SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs) that were applied to a visual lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) platform for PSA detection. During synthesis, the ratio of silica NPs to silver nitrate changed, and as the synthesized NPs exhibited distinct UV spectra and colors, most optimized SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs showed the potential for early prostate cancer diagnosis. The PSA detection limit of our LFIA platform was 1.1 ng\/mL. By applying each SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NP to the visual LFIA platform, optimized SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs were selected in the test strip, and clinical samples from prostate cancer patients were successfully detected as the boundaries of non-specific binding were clearly seen and the level of PSA was &lt;4 ng\/mL, thus providing an avenue for quick prostate cancer diagnosis and early treatment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21124099","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,15]],"date-time":"2021-06-15T21:24:29Z","timestamp":1623792269000},"page":"4099","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Silver-Assembled Silica Nanoparticles in Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Visual Inspection of Prostate-Specific Antigen"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Hyung-Mo","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5150-4810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaehi","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sungje","family":"Bock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jaehyun","family":"An","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yun-Sik","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry Education, Seoul National University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4927-7102","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xuan-Hung","family":"Pham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Myeong Geun","family":"Cha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry Education, Seoul National University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bomi","family":"Seong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wooyeon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yoon-Hee","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hobeom","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BioSquare Inc., Seongnam 13620, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jung-Won","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BioSquare Inc., Seongnam 13620, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Seung-min","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA"},{"name":"Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sang Hun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon 34158, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Won-Yeop","family":"Rho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of International Engineering and Science, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sangchul","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam 13620, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7869-5648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dae Hong","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry Education, Seoul National University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6518-0602","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ho-Young","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam 13620, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6556-7946","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bong-Hyun","family":"Jun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2963","DOI":"10.1039\/C4CS00370E","article-title":"Cancer biomarker detection: Recent achievements and challenges","volume":"44","author":"Wu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Chem. 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