Lateral flow assay is widely used in the point-of-care testing on-site and in-home testing with the advantage of being simple, rapid, sensitive and cost-effective. Proper labels are the key factors in lateral flow assay. Traditional labels include colloidal gold, selenium nanoparticle, and carbon nanoparticle, among which the colloidal gold is most commonly used. Lateral flow assay has been improved as a result of the discovery of new labels, such as quantum dots and nanozyme recently. Meanwhile, transformation of qualitative detection to quantitative detection is gradually realized. This article aims at introducing the most often used and the latest lateral flow assay labels, providing a basis theoretical investigation on screening proper labels for lateral flow assay researchers.
