Aggregation-Induced Emission-Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Ultra-Sensitive and On-Site Detection of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has inflicted substantial economic losses on the swine industry, underscoring the need for sensitive point-of-care diagnostics. While lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA) offer rapidity and ease of use, traditional labels like colloidal gold suffer from limited sensitivity. Herein, we developed an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based LFIA, termed PED-ALFIA, for the highly sensitive detection of the PEDV antigen. PED-ALFIA exhibited a detection limit of 2.44 × 102 TCID50/mL, which represents a 256-fold improvement in sensitivity over commercial colloidal gold kits and a 4-fold enhancement compared to our previously developed PED-TRFIA. The assay showed no cross-reactivity with other common swine viruses and demonstrated high reproducibility. When tested on clinical samples (n = 42), results showed 100% concordance with qPCR. Utilizing a portable fluorescence reader, the assay can be completed within 10 min, establishing PED-ALFIA as a sensitive, specific, and rapid on-site tool for the early diagnosis of PEDV.