Rapid Detection of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Using Quantum Dot-Based Optical Aptasensor

IEEE Trans Nanobioscience. 2018 Oct;17(4):417-423. doi: 10.1109/TNB.2018.2852261. Epub 2018 Jul 2.

Abstract

This paper reports an optical "TURN OFF" aptasensor, which is comprised of a deoxyribonucleic acid aptamer attached to a quantum dot on the terminus and gold nanoparticle on the terminus. The photoluminescence intensity is observed to decrease upon progressive addition of the target protein tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- ) to the sensor. For PBS-based TNF- samples, the beacon exhibited 19%-20% quenching at around 22 nM concentration. The photoluminescence intensity and the quenching efficiency showed a linear decrease and a linear increase, respectively, between 0 to 22.3 nM TNF- . The detection limit of the sensor was found to be 97.2 pM. Specificity test results determined that the sensor has higher selectivity toward TNF- than other control proteins such as C-reactive protein, albumin, and transferrin. The beacon successfully detected different concentrations of TNF- in human serum-based samples exhibiting around 10% quenching efficiency at 12.5 nM of the protein.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / chemistry*
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / metabolism
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer / methods*
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
  • Fluorescent Dyes / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Quantum Dots / chemistry*
  • Quantum Dots / metabolism
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / blood*
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / metabolism

Substances

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha