UV Treatment Nucleic Acid Probe Without Biotin-Labeling Is Sensitive and Sufficient For The Fabrication of Nucleic Acid Lateral Flow (NALF) Strip Test

Nucleic acid lateral flow (NALF) test strip is currently a promising method in biomedical applications for point-of-care diagnostic tests. Generally, biotin-labelled probe is commonly used in making the test lines and control lines, and the entire processes require long periods of incubation time with the probe and streptavidin. In this study, we use non-labelled oligonucleotides that have been UV cross-linked to fix the test lines and control lines on to the nitrocellulose membrane. Our tests reduce strip fabrication time and cost three times as less than the conventional NALF. Specificity tests revealed that false positive signals were undetectable from negative control groups. In addition, comparison of biotin-free, UV-treated NALF strip to biotin-labelled platform did not show significant difference between the two platforms. These results suggest the cost-effective alternative protocol for NALF strip generation.