Highly sensitive luminol electrochemiluminescence immunosensor based on ZnO nanoparticles and glucose oxidase decorated graphene for cancer biomarker detection

In this work, we reported a sandwiched luminol electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor using ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and glucose oxidase (GOD) decorated graphene as labels and in situ generated hydrogen peroxide as coreactant. In order to construct the base of the immunosensor, a hybrid architecture of Au nanoparticles and graphene by reduction of HAuCl₄ and graphene oxide (GO) with ascorbic acid was prepared. The resulted hybrid architecture modified electrode provided an excellent platform for immobilization of antibody with good bioactivity and stability. Then, ZnONPs and GOD functionalized graphene labeled secondary antibody was designed for fabricating a novel sandwiched ECL immunosensor. Enhanced sensitivity was obtained by in situ generating hydrogen peroxide with glucose oxidase and the catalysis of ZnONPs to the ECL reaction of luminol–H₂O₂ system. The as-prepared ECL immunosensor exhibited excellent analytical property for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the range from 10 pg mL⁻¹ to 80 ng mL⁻¹ and with a detection limit of 3.3 pg mL⁻¹ (S N⁻¹ = 3). The amplification strategy performed good promise for clinical application of screening of cancer biomarkers.     

基于金纳米颗粒负载的金属有机骨架材料的癌胚抗原传感器的研制

以负载Au的金属有机骨架材料(AuNPs/Cu-TPA)标记CEA抗体(Ab2)为信号探针,通过电还原的方法将氧化石墨烯还原到电极上,研制了一种捕获CEA抗体(Ab1)的电化学免疫传感器,并将其应用于癌胚抗原(CEA)检测.所合成的MOFs材料中含有大量Cu2+,且电化学信号比较稳定,因此可以通过检测MOFs材料中Cu2+的信号实现对CEA的检测.此信号探针不需要预处理和酸处理,易负载贵金属从而固定抗体,大大简化了检测步骤并缩短了检测时间.此传感器对CEA的检测灵敏度好,操作简便.在最优实验条件下,此传感器的线性范围为0.1～ 80 ng/mL,检出限为0.03 ng/mL,线性相关系数为0.9887,可用于真实样品中CEA的测定.     

Synthetic Mucin‐Like Glycopeptides as Versatile Tools to Measure Effects of Glycan Structure/Density/Position on the Interaction with Adhesion/Growth‐Regulatory Galectins in Arrays

Functional pairing of cellular glycoconjugates with tissue lectins is a highly selective process, whose determinative factors have not yet been fully delineated. Glycan structure and modes of presentation, that is, its position and density, can contribute to binding, as different members of a lectin family can regulate degrees of responsiveness to these factors. Using a peptide repeat sequence motif of the glycoprotein mucin‐1, the principle of introducing synthetic (glyco)peptides with distinct variations in these three parameters to an array‐based screening of tissue lectins is illustrated. Interaction profiles of seven adhesion/growth‐regulatory galectins cover the range from intense signals with core 2 pentasaccharides and core 1 binding for galectins‐3 and ‐5 to a lack of binding for galectin‐1 and also the galectin‐related protein, which was included as a negative control. Remarkably, the two tandem‐repeat‐type galectins‐4 and ‐8 were distinguished by core 1 sialylation, as the two separated domains were. These results encourage further synthetic elaboration of the glycopeptide library and testing of the network of natural galectins and rationally engineered variants of the lectins.     

Antigen retrieval on formaldehyde-fixed paraffin sections: its potential drawbacks and optimization for double immunostaining

It is well known that the major artifact induced by formaldehyde fixation is the masking of tissue antigens due to cross-linking of protein amino acid residues. Recently many antigen retrieval techniques have been devised to unmask the hidden antigen epitopes and recover immunoreactivity. In this study, some practical problems of two common unmasking techniques, i.e. heat-induced epitope retrieval and enzyme digestion have been reviewed in immunostaining of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) on formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded sections. As the heating conditions became more severe, false-positive staining and/or nonspecific background staining occurred. Based on the principle of protein inactivation/denaturation and the possible mechanisms of antigen retrieval, it has been suggested that the antigen retrieval itself can also denature proteins in tissues, just as many other protein inactivation processes. Thus, the total magnitude of protein conformational change caused by the overall unmasking procedure is in practice crucial. To prove this hypothesis and to overcome such undesirable drawbacks after antigen retrieval, a new combination technique of a mild heating condition (microwaved at 80°C for 15–20 min) and pepsin digestion was devised. This technique led to a strong specific immunoreactivity of PCNA, without any undesirable false positive or background staining. The procedure was also adapted for double immunostaining of PCNA together with -actin, bromodeoxyuridine, keratin, type IV collagen and vimentin.     

Automated chemiluminescent dual-analyte immunoassay based on resolved immunosensing channels

A novel system of series-wound immunosensing channels (SWIC) was proposed for automated chemiluminescent (CL) dual-analyte immunoassay by immobilizing respectively different capture antibodies on the inner walls of series-wound glass channels. This system could use a single enzyme as label to perform multiplex immunoassay in one fluid way. Using α-fetoprotein (AFP) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) as model analytes, the mixture including AFP, horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled anti-AFP antibody, CEA and HRP-labeled anti-CEA antibody was introduced into the SWIC for carrying out the on-line incubation. Upon injection of CL substrate the CL signals from the two immunosensing channels were conveniently resolved and near-simultaneously collected with the aid of optical shutter. AFP and CEA could be rapidly assayed in the ranges of 1.0-100 and 1.0-80 ng/ml with detection limits of 0.41 and 0.39 ng/ml, respectively. The assay results of clinical serum samples were in an acceptable agreement with the reference values. This designed flow-through immunosensing system based on SWIC provided an automated, reusable, simple, sensitive and low-cost approach for multianalyte immunoassay.     

氟甲喹单克隆抗体制备、鉴定及间接竞争酶联免疫吸附分析法

以氟甲喹(FLU)为原料,合成4个碳原子手臂的半抗原(FLUABA),采用活泼酯法与牛血清白蛋白(BSA)偶联制备免疫抗原,通过免疫Balb/c小鼠及细胞融合,获得1株稳定分泌抗氟甲喹单克隆抗体的杂交瘤细胞株DB6-E7,其抗体亚类为IgG1,亲和力常数(KA)为8.19×108L/mol。将氟甲喹、FLUABA及6个碳原子手臂的半抗原FLUACA分别与卵清白蛋白(OVA)偶联作为包被抗原,研究异源包被对间接竞争ELISA灵敏度的影响。结果表明,异源包被可显著提高ELISA方法的灵敏度。基于最佳异源包被(FLU-OVA)的酶联免疫吸附分析法的IC50为26.33μg/L,检出限为4μg/L,定量检测范围为8.0～114μg/L(IC20～IC80)。与喹诺酮类药物及结构类似物几乎不存在交叉反应,特异性高。此方法可满足畜禽产品中氟甲喹残留的快速筛查。     

Resolving Multiple Protein–Peptide Binding Events: Implication for HLA-DQ2 Mediated Antigen Presentation in Celiac Disease

Techniques that can effectively separate protein–peptide complexes from free peptides have shown great value in major histocompatibility complex (MHC)–peptide binding studies. However, most of the available techniques are limited to measuring the binding of a single peptide to an MHC molecule. As antigen presentation in vivo involves both endogenous ligands and exogenous antigens, the deconvolution of multiple binding events necessitates the implementation of a more powerful technique. Here we show that capillary electrophoresis coupled to fluorescence detection (CE–FL) can resolve multiple MHC–peptide binding events owing to its superior resolution and the ability to simultaneously monitor multiple emission channels. We utilized CE–FL to investigate competition and displacement of endogenous peptides by an immunogenic gluten peptide for binding to HLA-DQ2. Remarkably, this immunogenic peptide could displace CLIP peptides from the DQ2 binding site at neutral but not acidic pH. This unusual ability of the gluten peptide supports a direct loading mechanism of antigen presentation in extracellular environment, a property that could explain the antigenicity of dietary gluten in celiac disease.     

The electrochemistry of antibody-modified conducting polymer electrodes

The modification of conducting polymer electrodes with antibodies (i.e. proteins) by means of electrochemical polymerization is a simple step that can be used to develop an immunological sensor. However, the electrochemical processes involved leading to the generation of analytical signals by the sensor have not been fully investigated. In this work, we report on the characterization of the interaction between an antigen, human serum albumin (HSA) and an antibody-immobilized polypyrrole electrode (such as anti-HSA) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and impedance spectroscopy. This interaction was monitored using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at three different potentials. The potentials correspond to the three redox states of the electroconducting polymer (i.e. reduced, doped and overoxidized states). Evidence from the CV experiments confirmed that there was a shift in the potential, which was found to be proportional to the concentration. Both the CV and the impedance experiments indicated that this potential-dependent shift could be attributed to antibody–antigen (Ab–Ag) binding.