Neurofilament light chain (NEFL) is a potential biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) is also closely associated with neuroinflammation. Especially, NEFL and IL-6 are the two known protein biomarkers with the lowest abundance in neurological diseases, and their detection is crucial for early diagnosis and prognosis prediction of such diseases. However, quantitative detection of low concentrations of NEFL and IL-6 in serum remains quite challenging, especially in point of care testing (POCT).
Song Shiping from Shanghai University/Hong Jiang from the Ninth Affiliated People's Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine has developed a portable and sensitive electrochemical biosensor. This biosensor, combined with smartphones, can be applied in various scenarios for quantitative detection of NEFL and IL-6, meeting the needs of POCT. It detected NEFL as low as 5.22 pg/mL and IL-6 as low as 3.69 pg/mL in 6 μ L serum within 2 hours, indicating that the electrochemical biosensor works well in the serum system.
Key point 1. The author reported a novel portable electrochemical biosensor for rapid on-site detection of NEFL and IL-6 in blood. Utilizing electrochemical biosensors to achieve high sensitivity and portable detection of these two biomarkers, due to their easy integration and miniaturization characteristics, they can be smoothly integrated with mobile terminal devices, making them more suitable for POCT.
Key point 2. The author designed a dual antibody sandwich structure on a dual channel electrode and used a smartphone to collect electrochemical biosensing signals. In the design, the capture antibody is fixed on the electrode surface and the target in the blood is captured. Then, biotinylation detection is used to amplify the signal by binding the antibody with streptavidin peroxidase, thereby improving the sensitivity of the biosensor.
Key point 3. The sensor detected NEFL as low as 5.22 pg/mL and IL-6 as low as 3.69 pg/mL in 6 μ L serum within 2 hours, indicating that the electrochemical biosensor works well in the serum system. The results also indicate that the detection ability of serum samples is superior to high sensitivity ELISA.
Importantly, by detecting NEFL and IL-6 in serum, this biosensor demonstrates its potential to detect all known neurodegenerative biomarkers in POCT models, making it possible for large-scale screening of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Source: Sensor Expert Network