Sensitive electrochemical aptamer biosensor for dynamic cell surface N-glycan evaluation featuring multivalent recognition and signal amplification on a dendrimer-graphene electrode interface

Anal Chem. 2014 May 6;86(9):4278-86. doi: 10.1021/ac404070m. Epub 2014 Apr 16.

Abstract

We demonstrate a multivalent recognition and highly selective aptamer signal amplification strategy for electrochemical cytosensing and dynamic cell surface N-glycan expression evaluation by the combination of concanavalin A (Con A), a mannose binding protein, as a model, conjugated poly(amidoamine) dendrimer on a chemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO-DEN) interface, and aptamer- and horseradish peroxidase-modified gold nanoparticles (HRP-aptamer-AuNPs) as nanoprobes. In this strategy, the rGO-DEN can not only enhance the electron transfer ability but also provide a multivalent recognition interface for the conjugation of Con A that avoids the weak carbohydrate-protein interaction and dramatically improves the cell capture efficiency and the sensitivity of the biosensor for cell surface glycan. The high-affinity aptamer- and HRP-modified gold nanoparticles provide an ultrasensitive electrochemical probe with excellent specificity. As proof-of-concept, the detection of CCRF-CEM cell (human acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and its surface N-glycan was developed. It has demonstrated that the as-designed biosensor can be used for highly sensitive and selective cell detection and dynamic evaluation of cell surface N-glycan expression. A detection limit as low as 10 cells mL(-1) was obtained with excellent selectivity. Moreover, this strategy was also successfully applied for N-glycan expression inhibitor screening. These results imply that this biosensor has potential in clinical diagnostic and drug screening applications and endows a feasibility tool for insight into the N-glycan function in biological processes and related diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide*
  • Base Sequence
  • Biosensing Techniques*
  • Cell Membrane / chemistry
  • DNA Primers
  • Dendrimers*
  • Electrodes*
  • Graphite / chemistry*
  • Polysaccharides / analysis*
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared

Substances

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • DNA Primers
  • Dendrimers
  • Polysaccharides
  • Graphite