Engineered metal-organic frameworks for advanced lateral flow immunoassays: structural design, functional hybridization, and biosensing applications

The growing demand for rapid and on-site analysis has driven significant interest in point-of-care Testing (POCT) nanosensors, particularly those based on lateral flow immunochromatography assay (LFIA), owing to their simplicity, portability, and user-friendly operation. Nevertheless, conventional immunochromatographic test strips still suffer from insufficient sensitivity, specificity, and stability, limiting their broader applications. In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have garnered increasing attention owing to their unique structures and properties. With high specific surface areas, abundant pore structures, and tunable chemical properties, MOFs offer promising strategies to enhance the performance of immunochromatographic test strips for analytical and diagnostic applications. In this review, we summarize recent studies on the application of MOFs in immunochromatography, with a particular focus on their integration with immunochromatographic test strips for detecting environmental pollutants, biomarkers, food contaminants, bacteria, and drugs. We discuss the properties, synthesis strategies, and advantages of MOF-based systems, examine their current applications, and propose future directions for the practical development of MOF materials.