scholarly journals A Paper-Based Near-Infrared Optical Biosensor for Quantitative Detection of Protease Activity Using Peptide-Encapsulated SWCNTs

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 5247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlad Shumeiko ◽  
Yossi Paltiel ◽  
Gili Bisker ◽  
Zvi Hayouka ◽  
Oded Shoseyov

A protease is an enzyme that catalyzes proteolysis of proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids. As crucial elements in many biological processes, proteases have been shown to be informative biomarkers for several pathological conditions in humans, animals, and plants. Therefore, fast, reliable, and cost-effective protease biosensors suitable for point-of-care (POC) sensing may aid in diagnostics, treatment, and drug discovery for various diseases. This work presents an affordable and simple paper-based dipstick biosensor that utilizes peptide-encapsulated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for protease detection. Upon enzymatic digestion of the peptide, a significant drop in the photoluminescence (PL) of the SWCNTs was detected. As the emitted PL is in the near-infrared region, the developed biosensor has a good signal to noise ratio in biological fluids. One of the diseases associated with abnormal protease activity is pancreatitis. In acute pancreatitis, trypsin concentration could reach up to 84 µg/mL in the urine. For proof of concept, we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed biosensor for the detection of the abnormal levels of trypsin activity in urine samples.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Spyrogianni ◽  
Charlotte Gourmel ◽  
Leopold Hofmann ◽  
Jessica Marbach ◽  
Jean-Christophe Leroux

AbstractReliable ammonia quantification assays are essential for monitoring ammonemia in patients with liver diseases. In this study, we describe the development process of a microplate-based assay for accurate, precise, and robust ammonia quantification in biological fluids, following regulatory guidelines on bioanalytical method validation. The assay is based on transmembrane pH-gradient polymersomes that encapsulate a pH-sensitive ratiometric fluorophore, the fluorescence signal of which correlates with the ammonia concentration in the sample. Using a four-parameter logistic regression, the assay had a large quantification range (30–800 μM ammonia). As for selectivity, the presence of amino acids or pyruvate (up to clinically relevant concentrations) showed no assay interference. In samples with low bilirubin levels, polymersomes containing the fluorophore pyranine provided accurate ammonia quantification. In samples with high bilirubin concentrations, billirubin’s optical interference was alleviated when replacing pyranine with a close to near-infrared hemicyanine fluorophore. Finally, the assay could correctly retrieve the ammonia concentration in ammonia-spiked human plasma samples, which was confirmed by comparing our measurements with the data obtained using a commercially available point-of-care device for ammonia.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2432
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Bonapace ◽  
Francesco Gentile ◽  
Nicola Coppedé ◽  
Maria Laura Coluccio ◽  
Virginia Garo ◽  
...  

The altered glucose metabolism characterising cancer cells determines an increased amount of methylglyoxal in their secretome. Previous studies have demonstrated that the methylglyoxal, in turn, modifies the protonation state (PS) of soluble proteins contained in the secretomes of cultivated circulating tumour cells (CTCs). In this study, we describe a method to assess the content of methylglyoxal adducts (MAs) in the secretome by near-infrared (NIR) portable handheld spectroscopy and the extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. By measuring the vibration absorption functional groups containing hydrogen, such as C-H, O-H and N-H, NIR generates specific spectra. These spectra reflect alterations of the energy frequency of a sample bringing information about its MAs concentration levels. The algorithm deciphers the information encoded in the spectra and yields a quantitative estimate of the concentration of MAs in the sample. This procedure was used for the comparative analysis of different biological fluids extracted from patients suspected of having cancer (secretome, plasma, serum, interstitial fluid and whole blood) measured directly on the solute left on a surface upon a sample-drop cast and evaporation, without any sample pretreatment. Qualitative and quantitative regression models were built and tested to characterise the different levels of MAs by ELM. The final model we selected was able to automatically segregate tumour from non-tumour patients. The method is simple, rapid and repeatable; moreover, it can be integrated in portable electronic devices for point-of-care and remote testing of patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Adem ◽  
Sonal Jain ◽  
Michael Sveiven ◽  
Xiahan Zhou ◽  
Anthony J. O’Donoghue ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTProteases are enzymes that cleave proteins and are crucial to physiological processes such as digestion, blood clotting, and wound healing. Unregulated protease activity is a biomarker of several human diseases. Synthetic peptides that are selectively hydrolyzed by a protease of interest can be used as reporter substrates of unregulated protease activity. We developed an activity-based protease sensor by immobilizing magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) to the surface of a giant magnetoresistive spin-valve (GMR SV) sensor using peptides. Cleavage of these peptides by a protease, releases the magnetic nanoparticles resulting in a time-dependent change in the local magnetic field. Using this approach, we detected a significant release of MNPs after 3.5 minutes incubation using just 4 nM of the cysteine protease, papain. In addition, we show that proteases in healthy human urine do not release the MNPs, however addition of 20 nM of papain to the urine samples resulted in a time-dependent change in magnetoresistance. This study lays the foundation for using GMR SV sensors as a platform for real-time quantitative detection of protease activity in biological fluids.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Spyrogianni ◽  
Charlotte Gourmel ◽  
Leopold Hofmann ◽  
Jessica Marbach ◽  
Jean-Christophe Leroux

Abstract Reliable ammonia quantification assays are essential for monitoring ammonemia in patients with liver diseases. In this study, we describe the development process of a microplate-based assay for accurate, precise, and robust ammonia quantification in biological fluids, following regulatory guidelines on bioanalytical method validation. The assay is based on transmembrane pH-gradient polymersomes that encapsulate a pH-sensitive ratiometric fluorophore, the fluorescence signal of which correlates with the ammonia concentration in the sample. Using four-parameter logistic regression, the assay had a large quantification range (30–800 µM ammonia). As for selectivity, the presence of amino acids or pyruvate (up to clinically relevant concentrations) showed no assay interference. In samples with low bilirubin levels, polymersomes containing the fluorophore pyranine provided accurate ammonia quantification. In samples with high bilirubin concentrations, billirubin’s optical interference was alleviated when replacing pyranine with a close to near-infrared hemicyanine fluorophore. Finally, the assay could correctly retrieve the ammonia concentration in ammonia-spiked human plasma samples, which was confirmed by comparing our measurements with the data obtained using a commercially available point-of-care device for ammonia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhineet Verma ◽  
Sk Saddam Hossain ◽  
Sailaja S Sunkari ◽  
Joseph Reibenspies ◽  
Satyen Saha

Lanthanides (LnIII) are well known for their characteristic emission in the Near-Infrared Region (NIR). However, direct excitation of lanthanides is not feasible as described by Laporte’s parity selection rule. Here,...


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bittante ◽  
Simone Savoia ◽  
Alessio Cecchinato ◽  
Sara Pegolo ◽  
Andrea Albera

AbstractSpectroscopic predictions can be used for the genetic improvement of meat quality traits in cattle. No information is however available on the genetics of meat absorbance spectra. This research investigated the phenotypic variation and the heritability of meat absorbance spectra at individual wavelengths in the ultraviolet–visible and near-infrared region (UV–Vis-NIR) obtained with portable spectrometers. Five spectra per instrument were taken on the ribeye surface of 1185 Piemontese young bulls from 93 farms (13,182 Herd-Book pedigree relatives). Linear animal model analyses of 1481 single-wavelengths from UV–Vis-NIRS and 125 from Micro-NIRS were carried out separately. In the overlapping regions, the proportions of phenotypic variance explained by batch/date of slaughter (14 ± 6% and 17 ± 7%,), rearing farm (6 ± 2% and 5 ± 3%), and the residual variances (72 ± 10% and 72 ± 5%) were similar for the UV–Vis-NIRS and Micro-NIRS, but additive genetics (7 ± 2% and 4 ± 2%) and heritability (8.3 ± 2.3% vs 5.1 ± 0.6%) were greater with the Micro-NIRS. Heritability was much greater for the visible fraction (25.2 ± 11.4%), especially the violet, blue and green colors, than for the NIR fraction (5.0 ± 8.0%). These results allow a better understanding of the possibility of using the absorbance of visible and infrared wavelengths correlated with meat quality traits for the genetic improvement in beef cattle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S57-S57
Author(s):  
Edgar Ong ◽  
Ruo Huang ◽  
Richard Kirkland ◽  
Michael Hale ◽  
Larry Mimms

Abstract Introduction A fast (<5 min), time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based immunoassay was developed for the quantitative detection of infliximab (IFX) and biosimilars for use in therapeutic drug monitoring using only 20 µL of fingerstick whole blood or serum at the point-of-care. The Procise IFX assay and ProciseDx analyzer are CE-marked. Studies were performed to characterize analytical performance of the Procise IFX assay on the ProciseDx analyzer. Methods Analytical testing was performed by spiking known amounts of IFX into negative serum and whole blood specimens. Analytical sensitivity was determined using limiting concentrations of IFX. Linearity was determined by testing IFX across the assay range. Hook effect was assessed at IFX concentrations beyond levels expected to be found within a patient. Testing of assay precision, cross-reactivity and potential interfering substances, and biosimilars was performed. The Procise IFX assay was also compared head-to-head with another CE-marked assay: LISA-TRACKER infliximab ELISA test (Theradiag, France). The accuracy of the Procise IFX assay is established through calibrators and controls traceable to the WHO 1st International Standard for Infliximab (NIBSC code: 16/170). Results The Procise IFX assay shows a Limit of Blank, Limit of Detection, and Lower Limit of Quantitation (LLoQ) of 0.1, 0.2, and 1.1 µg/mL in serum and 0.6, 1.1, and 1.7 µg/mL in whole blood, respectively. The linear assay range was determined to be 1.7 to 77.2 µg/mL in serum and whole blood. No hook effect was observed at an IFX concentration of 200 µg/mL as the value reported as “>ULoQ”. Assay precision testing across 20 days with multiple runs and reagent lots showed an intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.7%, an inter-assay CV of <2%, and a total CV of 3.4%. The presence of potentially interfering/cross-reacting substances showed minimal impact on assay specificity with %bias within ±8% of control. Testing of biosimilars (infliximab-dyyb and infliximab-abda) showed good recovery. A good correlation to the Theradiag infliximab ELISA was obtained for both serum (slope=1.01; r=0.99) and whole blood (slope=1.01; r=0.98) samples (Figure 1). Conclusion Results indicate that the Procise IFX assay is sensitive, specific, and precise yielding results within 5 minutes from both whole blood and serum without the operator needing to specify sample type. Additionally, it shows very good correlation to a comparator assay that takes several hours and sample manipulation to yield results. This makes the Procise IFX assay ideal for obtaining fast and accurate IFX quantitation, thus allowing for immediate drug level dosing decisions to be made by the physician during patient treatment.


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