Dual-label time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay for simultaneous measurement of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and human epididymis protein 4 in serum

In this study, a novel dual-label time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TRFIA) is described for simultaneous quantification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in serum to screen gynecologic cancers. A double-antibody sandwich TRFIA was introduced with europium and samarium chelates to simultaneously detect the concentrations of HER-2 and HE4. Under optimal conditions, the proposed method exhibited wide linear ranges for HER-2 of 0.07–500 ng ml−1 and for HE4 of 0.32–1000 pmol l−1 with the average coefficient of variation below 10%. The specificity was satisfied through determining the other common tumor markers. The recovery rates were 94.5% and 96.6% on average for HER-2 and HE4, respectively. Good correlations were observed in clinical samples between developed method and commercial chemiluminescence immunoassay kits. The results demonstrated that dual-label TRFIA for HER-2 and HE4 was rapid and precise, and therefore could have a promising use in large sample detection for gynecological cancer screening.