Recently, Dr. Xin Yanmei and Prof. Miao Yuqing worked together with Prof. Zhang Zhonghai from East China Normal University to report an oxygen vacancies-Induced antifouling photo-electrochemical aptasensor, to realize the highly sensitive and selective determination of α Fetoprotein in serum and urea. Related achievement titled “Oxygen Vacancies-Induced Antifouling Photoelectrochemical Aptasensor for Highly Sensitive and Selective Determination of α Fetoprotein” was published in Analytical Chemistry. Dr. Xin Yanmei was the first author, with Prof. Miao Yuqing and Prof. Zhang Zhonghai as the corresponding author. USST was the first unit.
Accurate measurement of cancer markers in urine is a convenient method for tumor monitoring. However, the concentration of cancer markers in urine is so low that it is difficult to achieve the measurement. Photoelectrochemal(PEC) sensors are a promising technology to realize the detection of trace cancer markers due to their high sensitivity. Currently, the interference of nonspecific biomolecules in urine is the main reason affecting the high sensitivity and selectivity sensors in detecting cancer markers.
In this work, a strategy of oxygen vacancy (OV)modulation is proposed to construct a fouling-resistant PEC aptamer sensing platform for the detection of α-fetoprotein (AFP), a liver cancer marker. The synergistic effect of OVs, antifouling layer, and aptamer resulted in a TiO2/OVs/C-PEG-based PEC sensor achieves a wide linear range from 1 pg/mL to 100 ng/mL and a low detection limit of 0.3 pg/mL for AFP. In addition, the sensor successfully realized the determination of AFP in urine samples and accurately differentiated between normal people and liver cancer patients in the early and advanced stages. This project is of great significance in advancing the application of photo-electrochemical bioanalytical technology to achieve the detection of cancer markers in urine by investigating the construction of an OVs-regulated fouling-resistant sensing interface.
The sensor not only accurately determined the concentration of AFP in serum by the spiking method but also directly determined the concentration of AFP in urine samples, realizing the diagnosis of liver cancer in urine. The TNTs/OVs/C-PEG/aptamer sensing platform breaks through the traditional idea of modifying antipollution materials by cross-linking agent adhesion or chemical bonding and provides a new idea for constructing a pollution-resistant PEC sensing platform with high sensitivity and high selectivity.
Related: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05782
