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Nucleic acid aptasensor with magnetically induced self-assembly for the detection of EpCAM glycoprotein

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Abstract

A “turn-on” aptasensor for label-free and cell-free EpCAM detection was constructed by employing magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4@Au nanocomposites as a matrix for signal amplification and double-stranded complex (SH-DNA/Apt probes) immobilization through Au-S binding. α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4@Au could be efficiently assembled into uniform and stable self-assembly films via magnetic-induced self-assembly technique on a magnetic glassy carbon electrode (MGCE). The effectiveness of the platform for EpCAM detection was confirmed through differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under optimized conditions, the platform exhibited excellent specificity for EpCAM, and a strong linear correlation was observed between the current and the logarithm of EpCAM protein concentration in the range 1 pg/mL–1000 pg/mL (R2 = 0.9964), with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.27 pg/mL. Furthermore, the developed platform demonstrated good stability during a 14-day storage test, with fluctuations remaining below 93.33% of the initial current value. Promising results were obtained when detecting EpCAM in spiked serum samples, suggesting its potential as a point-of-care (POC) testing.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Postgraduate Scientific Practice and Innovation Project (Grant No. SJCX21_1722).

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Author notes

  1. Yao Yue and Hezhong Ouyang have contributed equally to this work and share the first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Yao Yue, Mingyi Ma, Yaping Yang, Haoda Zhang & Ruijiang Liu

  2. The People’s Hospital of Danyang, Affiliated Danyang Hospital of Nantong University, Zhenjiang, 212300, People’s Republic of China

    Hezhong Ouyang

  3. Affiliated Kunshan Hospital, Jiangsu University, Suzhou, 215300, People’s Republic of China

    Aolin He

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  1. Yao Yue
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Contributions

Y.Y.: methodology, experimentation, writing–original draft, data curation. H.O.: funding acquisition, investigation, validation. M.M.: experimentation, investigation. Y.Y.: conceptualization, visualization, investigation. H.Z.: resources, software, visualization. A.H.: funding acquisition, investigation, validation. R.L.: writing–review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Aolin He or Ruijiang Liu.

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Highlights

• A label-free and cell-free electrochemical “turn-on” aptasensor was constructed for accurate detection of EpCAM.

• Magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4@Au nanocomposites achieved promising electrochemical property.

• The rapid detection of EpCAM was achieved by magnetic self-assembly and separation strategies.

• The aptasensor revealed low LOD, excellent specificity, reproducibility, and stability.

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Yue, Y., Ouyang, H., Ma, M. et al. Nucleic acid aptasensor with magnetically induced self-assembly for the detection of EpCAM glycoprotein. Microchim Acta 191, 64 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-06117-y

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