A promising magnetic SERS immunosensor for sensitive detection of avian influenza virus

Avian influenza viruses infect a great number of global populations every year and can lead to severe epidemics with high morbidity and mortality. Facile, rapid and sensitive detection of viruses is very crucial to control the viral spread at its early stage. In this work, we developed a novel magnetic immunosensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy to detect intact but inactivated influenza virus H3N2 (A/Shanghai/4084T/2012) by constructing a sandwich complex consisting of SERS tags, target influenza viruses and highly SERS-active magnetic supporting substrates. The procedure of sample pretreatment could be significantly simplified since the magnetic supporting substrates allowed the enrichment and separation of viruses from a complex matrix. With a portable Raman spectrometer, the immunosensor could detect H3N2 down to 102TCID50/mL (TCID50 refers to tissue culture infection dose at 50% end point), with a good linear relationship from 102 to 5×103 TCID50/mL. Considering its time efficiency, portability and sensitivity, the proposed SERS-based magnetic immunoassay is very promising for a point-of-care (POC) test in clinical and diagnostic praxis. •SERS-based magnetic immunoassay was developed for avian Influenza virus detection.•Sandwich method aided by a magnet improved virus enrichment and detection sensitivity.•Portable Raman system based protocol could be expected for point-of-care test.