6 research outputs found
MiRNA and mRNA-Controlled Double-Cascaded Amplifying Circuit Nanosensor for Accurate Discrimination of Breast Cancers in Living Cells, Animals, and Organoids
Metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients
with breast
cancer. Detecting high-risk breast cancer, including micrometastasis,
at an early stage is vital for customizing the right and efficient
therapies. In this study, we propose an enzyme-free isothermal cascade
amplification-based DNA logic circuit in situ biomineralization nanosensor,
HDNAzyme@ZIF-8, for simultaneous imaging of multidimensional biomarkers
in live cells. Taking miR-21 and Ki-67 mRNA as the dual detection
targets achieved sensitive logic operations and molecular recognition
through the cascade hybridization chain reaction and DNAzyme. The
HDNAzyme@ZIF-8 nanosensor has the ability to accurately differentiate
breast cancer cells and their subtypes by comparing their relative
fluorescence intensities. Of note, our nanosensor can also achieve
visualization within breast cancer organoids, faithfully recapitulating
the functional characteristics of parental tumor. Overall, the combination
of these techniques offers a universal strategy for detecting cancers
with high sensitivity and holds vast potential in clinical cancer
diagnosis
Chemical-Oxidation Cleavage Triggered Isothermal Exponential Amplification Reaction for Attomole Gene-Specific Methylation Analysis
Genomic 5-methylcytosine
(5-mC) modification is known to extensively
regulate gene expression. The sensitive and convenient analysis of
gene-specific methylation is wishful but challenging due to the lack
of means that can sensitively and sequence-selectively discriminate
5-mC from cytosine without the need for polymerase chain reaction.
Here we report a chemical-oxidation cleavage triggered exponential
amplification reaction (EXPAR) method named COEXPAR for gene-specific
methylation analysis. EXPAR was proved to not only have rapid amplification
kinetics under isothermal condition but also show excellent sequence-selectivity
and linear-dependence on EXPAR trigger. Further initiation of EXPAR
by chemical-cleavage of DNA at 5-mC, the COEXPAR showed high specificity
for methylated and nonmethylated DNA, and ā¼10<sup>7</sup> copies
of triggers were replicated in 20 min, which were used to quantify
the methylation level at the methylation loci. As a result, the gene-specific
methylation level of a p53 gene fragment, as a target model, was analyzed
in two linear ranges of 10 fMā1 pM and 1 pMā10 nM, and
limits of detection of 411 aM (<i>S</i>/<i>N</i> = 3) by fluorescence, and 576 aM (<i>S</i>/<i>N</i> = 3) by electrochemistry. The method fulfilled the assay in an isothermal
way in ā¼5 h without the need for tedious sample preparation
and accurate thermocycling equipment, which is likely to be a facile
and ultrasensitive way for gene-specific methylation analysis
Attomolar Determination of Coumaphos by Electrochemical Displacement Immunoassay Coupled with Oligonucleotide Sensing
Coumaphos, an organophosphorus pesticide (OP) used worldwide,
has
raised serious public concerns due to its positive association with
major types of cancer. Herein, a novel method for attomolar coumaphos
detection was developed on the basis of an electrochemical displacement
immunoassay coupled with oligonucleotide sensing. An optimized displacement
immunoassay was constructed to improve the binding efficiency of an
antigenāantibody pair, and a guanine-rich single-strand DNA
label, in combination with oligonucleotide sensing, was used to amplify
the detection signal with ādirectā relationship to the
analyte. As a result, coumaphos was sensitively determined from the
enhanced catalytic cycle of guanine-RuĀ(bpy)<sub>3</sub><sup>2+</sup> by chronoamperometry. The limit of detection (LOD) was down to 0.18
ng L<sup>ā1</sup> (S/N = 3), which is equal to 49.6 amol in
a sample solution of 100 Ī¼L. In comparison with conventional
methods, the proposed method has the lowest LOD and better accessibility
to high-throughput sensing systems. Besides, it can complete the whole
analysis process in under 50 min and exhibits good performance of
excellent selectivity to the OPs. With regard to the advantages of
rapidity, convenience, low cost, and ease of operation, the proposed
method has provided a promising platform capable of fast and in-field
OP detection, which may make the system promising for potential applications
in the detection of other small molecules
Construction of a Zinc PorphyrināFullerene-Derivative Based Nonenzymatic Electrochemical Sensor for Sensitive Sensing of Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitrite
Enzymatic
sensors possess high selectivity but suffer from some
limitations such as instability, complicated modified procedure, and
critical environmental factors, which stimulate the development of
more sensitive and stable nonenzymatic electrochemical sensors. Herein,
a novel nonenzymatic electrochemical sensor is proposed based on a
new zinc porphyrināfullerene (C<sub>60</sub>) derivative (ZnPāC<sub>60</sub>), which was designed and synthesized according to the conformational
calculations and the electronic structures of two typical ZnPāC<sub>60</sub> derivatives of <i>para</i>-ZnPāC<sub>60</sub> (ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub>) and <i>ortho</i>-ZnPāC<sub>60</sub> (ZnP<sub>o</sub>āC<sub>60</sub>). The two derivatives were first investigated by density functional
theory (DFT) and ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub> with a bent
conformation was verified to possess a smaller energy gap and better
electron-transport ability. Then ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub> was entrapped in tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) film and modified
on glassy carbon electrode (TOAB/ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub>/GCE). The TOAB/ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub>/GCE showed
four well-defined quasi-reversible redox couples with extremely fast
direct electron transfer and excellent nonenzymatic sensing ability.
The electrocatalytic reduction of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> showed
a wide linear range from 0.035 to 3.40 mM, with a high sensitivity
of 215.6 Ī¼A mM<sup>ā1</sup> and a limit of detection
(LOD) as low as 0.81 Ī¼M. The electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite
showed a linear range from 2.0 Ī¼M to 0.164 mM, with a sensitivity
of 249.9 Ī¼A mM<sup>ā1</sup> and a LOD down to 1.44 Ī¼M.
Moreover, the TOAB/ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub>/GCE showed
excellent stability and reproducibility, and good testing recoveries
for analysis of the nitrite levels of river water and rainwater. The
ZnP<sub>p</sub>āC<sub>60</sub> can be used as a novel material
for the fabrication of nonenzymatic electrochemical sensors
Real-Time Sensing of TET2-Mediated DNA Demethylation In Vitro by MetalāOrganic Framework-Based Oxygen Sensor for Mechanism Analysis and Stem-Cell Behavior Prediction
Active DNA demethylation,
mediated by O<sub>2</sub>-dependent tenāelevenĀ translocation
(TET) enzymes, has essential roles in regulating gene expression.
TET kinetics assay is vital for revealing mechanisms of demethylation
process. Here, by a metalāorganic framework (MOF)-based optical
O<sub>2</sub> sensor, we present the first demonstration on real-time
TET2 kinetics assay in vitro. A series of luminescent CuĀ(I) dialkyl-1,2,4-triazolate
MOFs were synthesized, which were noble-metal-free and able to intuitively
response to dissolved O<sub>2</sub> in a wide range from cellular
hypoxia (ā¤15 Ī¼M) to ambient condition (ā¼257 Ī¼M).
By further immobilization of the MOFs onto transparent silicon rubber
(MOF@SR) to construct O<sub>2</sub> film sensors, and real-time monitoring
of O<sub>2</sub> consumption on MOF@SR over the reaction time, the
complete TET2-mediated 5-methylcytosine (5mC) oxidation process were
achieved. The method overcomes the limitations of the current off-line
methods by considerably shortening the analytical time from 0.5ā18
h to 10 min, and remarkably reducing the relative standard deviation
from 10%ā68% to 0.68%ā4.2%. As a result, the MichaelisāMenten
constant (<i>K</i><sub>m</sub>) values of TET2 for 5mC and
O<sub>2</sub> in ascorbic acid-free (AA<sup>ā</sup>) condition
were precisely evaluated to be 24 Ā± 1 and 43.8 Ā± 0.3 Ī¼M,
respectively. By comparative study on AA-containing (AA<sup>+</sup>) conditions, and further establishing kinetics models, the stem-cell
behavior of TETs was successfully predicted, and the effects of key
factors (AA, O<sub>2</sub>, Fe<sup>2+</sup>) on TETs were revealed,
which were fully verified in mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells. The
method is promising in wide application in kinetics analysis and cell
behavior prediction of other important O<sub>2</sub>-related enzymes
Endogenous Enzyme-Powered DNA Nanomotor Operating in Living Cells for microRNA Imaging
Accurate and specific imaging of low-abundance microRNA
(miRNA)
in living cells is extremely important for disease diagnosis and monitoring
of disease progression. DNA nanomotors have shown great potential
for imaging molecules of interest in living cells. However, inappropriate
driving forces and complex design and operation procedures have hindered
their further application. Here, we proposed an endogenous enzyme-powered
DNA nanomotor (EEPDN), which employs an endogenous APE1 enzyme as
fuel to execute repetitive cycles of motion for miRNA imaging in living
cells. The whole motor system is constructed based on gold nanoparticles
without other auxiliary additives. Due to the high efficiency of APE1,
this EEPDN system has achieved highly sensitive miRNA imaging in living
cells within 1.5 h. This strategy was also successfully used to differentiate
the expression of specific miRNA between tumor cells and normal cells,
demonstrating a high tumor cell selectivity. This strategy can promote
the development of novel nanomotors and is expected to be a perfect
intracellular molecular imaging tool for biological and medical applications