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Modification-Free Fluorescent Biosensor for CEA Based on Polydopamine-Coated Upconversion Nanoparticles

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Abstract

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have achieved considerable success in protein sensing in vitro. And aptamer is one of the most frequently used biomolecules to modify the nanoparticles for protein assay. However, the complicated process of modifying UCNPs with DNA and the susceptibility of the phosphate groups of DNA backbone to adsorb on the surface of UCNPs have limited their practical applications. To overcome these limitations, a modification-free fluorescent biosensor based on polydopamine-coated upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs@PDA) is proposed. It consists of UCNPs@PDA and CEA aptamer-functionalized AuNPs (AuNPs-CEA aptamer). The CEA aptamer on AuNPs can be adsorbed onto the surface of UCNPs@PDA due to the interactions of π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding, triggering the process of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from UCNPs@PDA to AuNPs-CEA aptamer. In the presence of CEA, the AuNPs-CEA aptamer departs from UCNPs@PDA due to the stronger affinity of CEA with its aptamer. Therefore, the recovery of upconversion fluorescence can sensitively quantify the concentration of CEA. This biosensor provides a linear range from 0.1 to 100 ng/mL for CEA with a LOD of 0.031 ng/mL in an aqueous solution. In spiked human serum samples, the same linear range is acquired with a slightly higher LOD of 0.055 ng/mL, demonstrating the great potential of the biosensor in practical application.

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Data Availability

The authors declare that all data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary information files.

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Funding

This work was supported by [National Natural Science Foundation of China] [21906124] and Graduate Innovative Fund of Wuhan Institute of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, People’s Republic of China

    Dezhong Yu, Zhonghui Zha, Sheng Tang, Yuan Qiu & Dong Liu

  2. Engineering Research Center of Phosphorus Development and Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, People’s Republic of China

    Dezhong Yu, Zhonghui Zha, Sheng Tang, Yuan Qiu & Dong Liu

Authors
  1. Dezhong Yu
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  2. Zhonghui Zha
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  3. Sheng Tang
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  4. Yuan Qiu
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  5. Dong Liu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design.Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yu,Tang and Qiu. The first draft of the manuscript was edited by Zha and Liu. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dong Liu.

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Yu, D., Zha, Z., Tang, S. et al. Modification-Free Fluorescent Biosensor for CEA Based on Polydopamine-Coated Upconversion Nanoparticles. J Fluoresc 32, 1289–1297 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-022-02973-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-022-02973-8

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