The ultra-sensitive quantification of cytokines is a critical demand in biomedical diagnostics, particularly in monitoring immune dysregulation, chronic inflammation, and cancer-related signaling. This short overview presents two low-cost, simple, ultra-fast response, and small-size plasmonic point-of-care tests (PoCTs), both specifically developed for the attomolar detection of substances of interest, such as the key interleukins (e.g, IL-17A, IL-1β, and IL-18), demonstrating outstanding analytical performance without the need for amplification protocols.

The first PoCT developed by Cennamo’s Lab is a microcuvette-based plastic optical fiber (POF) device. The device exploits the multimodal POFs characteristic to change via analyte-receptor binding, the plasmonic phenomena in an SPR D-shaped POF probe arranged in series. The system operates without surface functionalization; indeed, the bioreceptor–analyte interaction occurs freely in solution within modified POFs (the microcuvette)¹. The second Cennamo’s PoCT exploits a nanoplasmonic biosensor chip based on pollen nanostructures covered by gold nanofilms and functionalized with specific antibodies. This architecture enables the excitation of hybrid plasmonic modes, yielding unprecedented sensitivity for cytokine detection via antibodies down to the sub-attomolar range².

Both sensing approaches exhibit rapid response times (approximately 10 minutes), high molecular specificity, and excellent reproducibility, making them highly attractive for the real-time monitoring of cytokines in diluted biological fluids or other substances of interest at the single-molecule level via PoCTs.

References

¹ N. Cennamo, F. Arcadio, C. Marzano, R. Pitruzzella, M. Seggio, M. Pesavento, S. Toldo, A. Abbate, L. Zeni, Sensors 2025, 25, 930.

² C. Marzano, R. Pitruzzella, F. Arcadio, F. Passeggio, M. Seggio, L. Pasquardini, N. Cennamo Biosensors 2025, 15, 161.