Separation-Free Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence Immunoassay Incorporating Target Assistant Proximity Hybridization and Dynamically Competitive Hybridization of a DNA Signal Probe

Anal Chem. 2020 Jan 7;92(1):884-891. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b03662. Epub 2019 Dec 20.

Abstract

A separation-free electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassay for biomarkers has been developed incorporating target assistant proximity hybridization and dynamically competitive hybridization of a DNA ECL signal probe for the first time. In this work, the biomarkers of acute myocardial infarction including cardiac troponin I (cTnI), cardiac troponin T (cTnT), and myoglobin (Myo) were chosen as the model proteins while the corresponding antibody was utilized as a recognition probe and the DNA5 tagged with ruthenium complex was chosen as an ECL signal probe (DNA5-Ru1). The biosensors were fabricated by covalently coupling the capture probe DNA1 onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode, and then, a competitor ss-DNA2 was hybridized with DNA1. When the biosensor was incubated in the solution containing a target protein, the recognition probes (DNA3-Ab1 and DNA4-Ab2), DNA5-Ru1, and the coreactant tri-n-propylamine, the target protein was bounded with two antibodies of the recognition probes and thus induced the sufficient proximity hybridization of DNA3 with DNA1, DNA4 with DNA5-Ru1, and DNA5-Ru1 with DNA1 and the unwinding of the competitor DNA2 with DNA1, and ECL measurement was performed in separation-free format. It was found that the hybridization base number and length of DNA1 and a competing hybridization of DNA5-Ru1 with DNA2 for DNA1 have important effects. The developed ECL method showed a quite low detection limit of 0.4 pg/mL for cTnI, 0.5 pg/mL for cTnT, and 0.5 ng/mL for Myo. The fabricated biosensor exhibited stability and reusability. This work demonstrated that the developed ECL immunoassay is a promising separation-free and flexible strategy for quantitation of multiple proteins using one biosensor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Immobilized / chemistry
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • DNA Probes / chemistry*
  • Electrochemical Techniques / methods
  • Humans
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids / chemistry
  • Immunoassay / methods
  • Limit of Detection
  • Luminescent Measurements / methods
  • Mice
  • Myocardial Infarction / blood
  • Myocardial Infarction / diagnosis
  • Myoglobin / analysis
  • Myoglobin / blood*
  • Nucleic Acid Hybridization
  • Ruthenium / chemistry
  • Troponin I / analysis
  • Troponin I / blood*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Immobilized
  • DNA Probes
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids
  • Myoglobin
  • Troponin I
  • Ruthenium