基于脱氧核酶的无标记端粒酶检测新方法

设计了一种发卡型核酸探针,结合脱氧核酶(DNAzyme)与支点介导链置换技术建立了一种检测端粒酶的新方法.该发卡型探针通过阻碍G-四链体的形成来抑制DNAzyme的过氧化物酶活性.当体系中的端粒酶引物TS被催化延伸后,可以通过链置换反应破坏该发卡结构,从而释放出自由的DNAzyme以催化过氧化氢氧化ABTS2-,产生可被检测的吸收信号变化.实验结果表明,应用该方法可以检测低至500个Hela细胞等当量的端粒酶,且该方法操作简单、不需要荧光标记和复杂的表面修饰,有望在肿瘤细胞端粒酶活性分析中获得广泛应用.     

基于链替代信号放大灵敏检测端粒酶活性的电化学方法

利用标记二茂铁基团的DNA(T-DNA)分子作为信号探针, 基于端粒酶特异性延长其底物链(TS)所引发的链替代反应, 建立了一种检测端粒酶活性的电化学信号放大法. 将巯基化的发夹型DNA分子(H-DNA)通过金-硫键自组装于金电极表面, 辅助DNA(A-DNA)与二茂铁修饰的T-DNA部分互补杂交形成双链AT-DNA; 当端粒酶存在时, 可在TS的3′末端合成TTAGGG的重复序列; A-DNA与TS延长链杂交置换出T-DNA; T-DNA与发夹H-DNA杂交使得二茂铁靠近电极表面; 一条TS延长链可以释放出多条T-DNA, 将二茂铁富集到金电极表面, 从而实现信号放大检测端粒酶活性. HeLa细胞个数在5~100范围内与电流值成正比, 最低可检测5个HeLa细胞中端粒酶的活性. 因此, 本文建立了一种简单灵敏检测端粒酶活性的电化学方法.     

基于新型聚钙羧酸修饰电极的甲胎蛋白电化学免疫传感器研究

通过电聚合制得新型聚钙羧酸修饰电极并用于构建检测甲胎蛋白（AFP）的高灵敏电化学免疫传感器. 采用扫描电镜（SEM）、电化学交流阻抗（EIS）观察、表征修饰电极和AFP单克隆抗体（Ab1）固定前后的差异. 固定Ab1的电极与一定浓度的AFP、辣根过氧化物酶联AFP单克隆抗体（HRP-Ab2）反应,形成夹心型免疫复合物. 辣根过氧化物酶（HRP）催化3,3',5,5'-四甲基联苯胺（TMB）底物产生电流信号,实现AFP浓度的测定. 本检测方法灵敏度高,重现性好.     

基于电沉积导电聚合物薄膜的高灵敏DNA电化学传感器

利用电沉积导电聚合物薄膜,提出了一种对乳腺癌相关的BRCA-1基因的高灵敏检测方法．以Au电极表面自组装DNA捕获探针,利用电沉积在DNA修饰电极表面固定含Ss^2＋/3＋的导电高分子作为电子传递媒介体．通过夹心法杂交目标靶DNA及辣根过氧化物酶标记的信号DNA探针．靶DNA杂交的信号探针上的辣根过氧化物酶与检测溶液中的过氧化氢反应,采用时间．电流（T-I）法,可以灵敏检测BRCA-1基因,其检测限可以达到10fM．     

基于杂交链式反应信号放大和磁分离技术荧光检测端粒酶活性

端粒酶是由RNA和蛋白质组成的一种核糖核蛋白酶, 它一般在癌细胞中被激活. 它与端粒DNA的不断复制以及癌细胞的不断增殖密切相关. 所以检测端粒酶的活性对癌症的早期诊断以及以端粒酶为靶标分子的抗癌药物的开发具有重要意义. 利用杂交链式反应(HCR)无酶放大检测信号, 建立了一种简单、快速的端粒酶活性检测方法. 端粒酶延伸产物是一条末端具有(ggttag)_n重复序列的DNA. 在实验过程中, 通过链霉亲合素与生物素的特异性作用将端粒酶延伸产物连接在磁性微球上. 设计一条端粒酶延伸产物特异性的DNA探针I作为杂交链式反应的引发探针. DNA探针I的3'-端与端粒酶延伸产物的重复序列匹配, 通过杂交, DNA探针I被固定在磁球上; DNA探针I的5'-端引发DNA探针II和探针III发生杂交链式反应. DNA探针II和探针III上都标记有荧光基团, 可以利用荧光直接进行信号检测. 在反应过程中, 通过磁分离去除多余未反应的三种DNA探针. 在优化条件下, 可以检测到1.0×10⁵个Hela细胞中的端粒酶活性. 该方法简单、快速、检测成本低, 分析全程无酶参与, 在肿瘤或癌症的临床诊断以及以端粒酶为靶标分子的抗癌药物的筛选上具有广阔的应用前景.     

一次性信号放大电化学阻抗RNA传感器研究

以自制的丝网印刷碳电极(SPCE)为基体电极,利用DNA四面体纳米探针和酶催化信号放大构建了一个一次性电化学阻抗型RNA传感器.固定在AuNPs修饰的SPCE表面的DNA四面体结构能确保DNA探针具有可控的密度和方向,结合辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)催化H_2O_2氧化4-氯-1-萘酚(CN)的反应,生成不溶物沉积在电极表面,有效地放大电化学阻抗信号,实现了miRNA的高灵敏阻抗测定.检测限可以低至1.0 pmol/L,阻抗值和miRNA-141浓度的对数在3.0～1 000 pmol/L之间具有良好的定量关系.     

基于纳米生物条形码和杂交链式反应构建电化学生物传感器用于蛋白激酶活性分析

该文结合纳米生物条形码和杂交链式反应(HCR)双重信号放大策略构建了一种电化学生物传感器用于蛋白激酶A(PKA)的活性分析。以MoS₂/AuNPs纳米复合材料作为玻碳电极修饰材料，半胱氨酸修饰的底物肽链通过Au-S键自组装到修饰电极表面。当存在目标物PKA时，底物肽链被磷酸化，可与纳米生物条形码(S1-AuNPs-Ab)特异性结合，以S1-AuNPs-Ab探针中S1链作为引发链，可诱导发夹DNA(H1和H2)发生杂交链式反应。HCR产物吸附亚甲基蓝(MB)电活性分子，产生放大的电化学响应信号，实现对PKA活性的定量分析。该电化学传感器检测PKA的线性范围为10^-3～20 U/mL，检出限(S/N=3)为3×10^-4 U/mL。构建的电化学传感器具有良好的选择性、重现性和稳定性，可用于实际样品细胞裂解液中PKA的活性测定和蛋白激酶抑制剂的筛选及激酶相关药物的发现。     

L-半胱氨酸/辣根过氧化物酶/纳米银/辣根过氧化物酶修饰电极循环伏安法测定过氧化氢

在金电极表面自组装L-半胱氨酸,再分别吸附辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)和纳米银,制得L-半胱氨酸/辣根过氧化物酶/纳米银/辣根过氧化物酶修饰电极。采用循环伏安法研究了修饰电极的电化学特性,探讨了pH值、温度对电极响应的影响,考察了电极的重复性、稳定性及选择性。实验结果表明,HRP在修饰电极表面能进行有效和稳定的电子转移,HRP保持了其对H2O2还原的生物催化活性。该电极对H2O2检测的线性范围为8.6×10-7～1.3×10-3mol/L,r=0.9985,检出限(S/N=3)为1.6×10-7mol/L。该电极具有稳定性好、线性范围宽、检出限低等优点,同时具有一定的抗干扰能力。     

检测急性早幼粒细胞白血病PML/RARα融合基因的电化学传感器研制

针对急性早幼粒细胞白血病(APL)中PML/RARα融合基因的碱基序列,设计了锁核酸(LNA)修饰的发夹结构捕获探针,结合信号探针构建新型的"三明治"电化学传感模式.信号探针末端修饰的生物素可与酶上的亲和素结合,通过检测酶催化H2O2氧化底物3,3＇,5,5＇-四甲基联苯胺(TMB)产生的电化学信号,实现对靶序列的检测...     

基于金纳米颗粒信号放大效应电化学检测DNA聚合酶

基于金纳米颗粒(AuNPs)比表面积大、 尺寸小和能够承载大量DNA片段的特点, 建立了一种免标记、 简便、 快速检测DNA聚合酶Klenow fragment exo-(KF^-)的电化学方法. 首先将巯基化的DNA引物片段修饰在金电极上, 然后加入模板DNA链以及修饰有报告DNA链的金纳米颗粒(AuNPs-DNA), 模板DNA链能同时与DNA引物片段和修饰在AuNPs上的报告DNA链进行互补杂交形成"三明治"结构, 从而将AuNPs-DNA修饰在电极表面; 当加入电活性物质钌铵(RuHex)后, RuHex可通过静电吸附作用结合在DNA上. AuNPs上修饰的报告DNA链能够吸附大量RuHex, 导致电化学信号放大. 当加入脱氧核糖核苷三磷酸(dNTPs)以及KF^-聚合酶后, 引物片段发生延伸反应, 将与模板DNA链杂交的AuNPs-DNA竞争下来, 带走大量的RuHex, 使电信号降低, 从而实现对聚合酶的检测. 实验结果表明, 利用该方法可以检测到5 U/mL的KF^-.     

DNA-based hybridization chain reaction amplification for assaying the effect of environmental phenolic hormone on DNA methyltransferase activity

In this work, a novel electrochemical protocol with signal amplification for determination of DNA methylation and methyltransferase activity using DNA-based hybridization chain reaction (HCR) was proposed. After the gold electrode was modified with dsDNA, it was treated with M.SssI MTase, HpaII endonuclease, respectively. And then the HCR was initiated by the target DNA and two hairpin helper DNAs, which lead to the formation of extended dsDNA polymers on the electrode surface. The signal was amplified by the labeled biotin on the hairpin probes. As a result, the streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase (S-ALP) conjugated on the electrode surface through the specific interaction between biotin and S-ALP. ALP could convert 1-naphthyl phosphate into 1-naphthol and the latter could be electrochemically oxidized, which was used to monitor the methylation event and MTase activity. The HCR assay presents good electrochemical responses for the determination of M.SssI MTase at a concentration as low as 0.0067 unit mL⁻¹. Moreover, the effects of anti-cancer drug and environmental phenolic hormone on M.SssI MTase activity were also investigated. The results indicated that 5-fluorouracil and daunorubicin hydrochloride could inhibit the activity, and the opposite results were obtained with bisphenol A and nonylphenol. Therefore, this method can not only provide a platform to screen the inhibitors of DNA MTase and develop new anticancer drugs, but also offer a novel technique to investigate the possible carcinogenesis mechanism.     

PCR-free electrochemical assay of telomerase activity

In this paper, we report a non-PCR-based electrochemical assay that can detect telomerase activity. Telomerase from HeLa cells may induce telomerization of thiolated primers immobilized on a gold electrode surface. With the telomerization reaction, more and more guanine-rich telomeric repeats are formed, so the electrochemical oxidation signal of guanine at about 1.00 V, which is utilized to indicate the elongated guanine-rich telomeric repeats tethered to the primers, will be increased. This assay method can detect the telomerase activity originated from 3000 HeLa cells and thus holds promise as a simple and sensitive approach in clinical diagnosis of cancer.     

Hairpin Assembly Amplified Electrochemical Biosensor for Highly Sensitive and Specific Detection of DNA

In this report, a simple electrochemical biosensor has been developed for highly sensitive and specific detection of DNA based on hairpin assembly amplification. In the presence of target DNA, the biotin‐labelled hairpin H1 is opened by hybridizing with target DNA through complementary sequences. Then the opened hairpin H1 assembles with the hairpin H2 to displace the target DNA, generating H1‐H2 complex. The displaced target DNA could trigger the next cycle of hairpins assembly, resulting in the generation of numerous H1‐H2 complexes. Subsequently, the H1‐H2 complex hybridizes with the capture probe immobilized on the electrode. Finally, the streptavidin alkaline phosphatase (ST‐ALP) binds to biotin in the capture probe‐H1‐H2 complex and catalyzes the substrate α‐naphthol (α‐NP) to produce electrochemical signal. To make a more fascinating hairpin assembly amplification strategy in signal amplification, mismatched base sequences are designed in hairpin H2 to decrease non‐specific binding of the hairpin substrates. The developed biosensor achieves a sensitivity of 20 pM with a linear range from 25 pM to 25 nM, and shows high selectivity toward single‐base mismatch. Thus, the proposed electrochemical biosensor might have the potential for early clinical diagnosis and therapy.     

An electrochemical biosensor based on DNA “nano-bridge” for amplified detection of exosomal microRNAs

Exosomal miRNAs, as potential biomarkers in liquid biopsy for cancer early diagnosis, have aroused widespread concern. Herein, an electrochemical biosensor based on DNA “nano-bridge” was designed and applied to detect exosomal microRNA-21 (miR-21) derived from breast cancer cells. In brief, the target miR-21 can specifically open the hairpin probe 1(HP1) labeled on the gold electrode (GE) surface through strand displacement reaction. Thus the exposed loop region of HP1 can act as an initiator sequence to activate the hybridization chain reaction (HCR) between two kinetically trapped hairpin probes: HP2 immobilized on the GE surface and biotin labeled HP3 in solution. Cascade HCR leads to the formation of DNA “nano-bridge” tethered to the GE surface with a great deal of “piers”. Upon addition of avidin-modified horseradish peroxidase (HRP), numerous HRP were bound to the formed “nano-bridge” through biotin-avidin interaction to arouse tremendous current signal. In theory, only a single miR-21 is able to trigger the continuous HCR between HP2 and HP3 until all of the HP2 are exhausted. Therefore the proposed biosensor achieved ultrahigh sensitivity toward miR-21 with the detection limit down to 168 amol/L, as well as little cross-hybridization even at the single-base-mismatched level. Successful attempts were also made in the detection of exosomal miR-21 obtained from the MCF-7 of breast cancer cell line. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to built horizontal DNA nano-structure on the electrode surface for exosomal miRNAs detection. In a word, the high sensitivity, selectivity, low cost make the proposed method hold great potential application for early point-of-care (POC) diagnostics of cancer.     

A novel electrochemical aptasensor for highly sensitive detection of thrombin based on the autonomous assembly of hemin/G-quadruplex horseradish peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme nanowires

In this work, a new signal amplified strategy was constructed based on isothermal exponential amplification reaction (EXPAR) and hybridization chain reaction (HCR) generating the hemin/G-quadruplex horseradish peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme (HRP-mimicking DNAzyme) nanowires as signal output component for the sensitive detection of thrombin (TB). We employed EXPAR’s ultra-high amplification efficiency to produce a large amount of two hairpin helper DNAs within a minutes. And then the resultant two hairpin helper DNAs could autonomously assemble the hemin/G-quadruplex HRP-mimicking DNAzymes nanowires as the redox-active reporter units on the electrode surface via hybridization chain reaction (HCR). The hemin/G-quadruplex structures simultaneously served as electron transfer medium and electrocatalyst to amplify the signal in the presence of H₂O₂. Specifically, only when the EXPAR reaction process has occurred, the HCR could be achieved and the hemin/G-quadruplex complexes could be formed on the surface of an electrode to give a detectable signal. The proposed strategy combines the amplification power of the EXPAR, HCR, and the inherent high sensitivity of the electrochemical detection. With such design, the proposed assay showed a good linear relationship within the range of 0.1 pM–50 nM with a detection limit of 33 fM (defined as S/N = 3) for TB.     

Ultrasensitive electrochemical detection for thrombin using hybridization chain reaction with enzyme-amplification

In this work, a new electrochemical aptasensor using hybridization chain reaction (HCR) for signal amplification was developed for highly sensitive detection of thrombin. The sandwich system of aptamer/thrombin/aptamer–primer complex was fabricated as the sensing platform. As the initiator strands, aptamer–primer complex could propagate a chain reaction of hybridization events between the two hairpin probes, and whether long nicked DNA polymers could be formed on the modified electrode. Then the biotin-labeled dsDNA polymers could introduce numerous avidin-labeled horseradish peroxidase (HRP), resulting in significantly amplified electrochemical signal through the electrocatalysis of HRP. On the basis of the enzymatic oxidization of Fe²⁺ by H₂O₂ to yield Fe³⁺, the imaging of thrombin was detected by the reduction current of Fe³⁺ with the scanning electrochemical microscopic tip. The electrochemical signals had a good linear with logarithm of thrombin concentration in the range from 1.0 fM to 100 fM, reaching a detection limit of thrombin as low as 0.04 fM. In addition, the proposed strategy exhibited excellent specificity and was successfully applied in real sample assay which demonstrated the potential application in clinical diagnostics.     

Label-free detection of telomerase activity in HeLa cells using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

A simple assay based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for detection of telomerase activity is developed, and it is demonstrated that the label-free EIS method is capable of detecting the telomerase activity in HeLa cells with a detection limit of 1000 HeLa cells without using any amplification technique.     

A PCR-free voltammetric telomerase activity assay using a substrate primer on a gold electrode and DNA-triggered capture of gold nanoparticles

The paper describes a voltammetric method for the quantitation of the activity of telomerase extracted from cancer cells. A thiolated single-stranded telomerase substrate primer was firstly immobilized on a gold electrode. In the presence of a mixture of telomerase and deoxynucleotide triphosphates, the primer becomes elongated and contains repetitive nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG)_n. After hybridization with blocker DNA, gold nanoparticles are added and captured by the elongated single-stranded DNA. This reduces the charge transfer resistance of the gold electrode. The telomerase activity is then quantified via differential pulse voltammetry, typically at 0.12 V (vs. SCE). The method is PCR-free, rapid, and convenient. It was applied to the detection of HeLa cells via the telomerase activity of lysed cells. The detection range was from 500 to 50,000 cells/mL and the detection limit was as low as 500 cells/mL.

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Graphical abstract A telomerase substrate (TS) primer is immobilized on a gold electrode as the sensing interface to detect the activity of telomerase extracted from cancer cells. Unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are utilized which change the electrochemical responses.

     

Dual Signal Amplification Electrochemical Biosensor for Lead Cation

Herein, a sensitive electrochemical Pb²⁺ sensor was developed which based on DNA‐functionalized Au nanoparticles(AuNPs) and nanocomposite modified electrode. The DNA‐functionalized AuNPs includes two types of DNA, namely a Pb²⁺‐mediated DNAzyme comprising a biotin labeled‐enzyme DNA and a substrate strand DNA with a typical stem‐loop structure, and a ferrocene‐labeled linear signal DNA. Without Pb²⁺, the hairpin loop impeded biotin binding to avidin on the electrode. However,when the goal Pb²⁺ exists, the substratum strand was divided into two fragments that lead to the enzyme strand was substratumed on the electrode and biotin was admited by avidin, bringing about DNA‐functionalized AuNP(AuNPs) deposition on the electrode surface.The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used to measure electrochemical response signals connect to signal DNA.For the amplification characters of the DNA‐functionalized AuNPs and nanocomposite, the electrochemical detection signal of Pb²⁺ was greatly improved and revealed high specificity. Under optimum conditions, the resultant biosensor bringed out a high sensitivity and selectivity for the determination of Pb²⁺. The proposed method was able to detect as low as picomolar Pb²⁺ concentrations.