Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 6;13(6):628.
doi: 10.3390/bios13060628.

Vertically-Ordered Mesoporous Silica Film Based Electrochemical Aptasensor for Highly Sensitive Detection of Alpha-Fetoprotein in Human Serum

Tongtong Zhang  1 , Luoxiang Yang  2 , Fei Yan  2 , Kai Wang  1
Affiliations

Vertically-Ordered Mesoporous Silica Film Based Electrochemical Aptasensor for Highly Sensitive Detection of Alpha-Fetoprotein in Human Serum

Tongtong Zhang et al. Biosensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Convenient and rapid detection of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) is vital for early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this work, low-cost (0.22 USD for single sensor) and stable (during 6 days) electrochemical aptasensor was developed for highly sensitive and direct detection of AFP in human serum with the assist of vertically-ordered mesoporous silica films (VMSF). VMSF has silanol groups on the surface and regularly ordered nanopores, which could provide binding sites for further functionalization of recognition aptamer and also confer the sensor with excellent anti-biofouling capacity. The sensing mechanism relies on the target AFP-controlled diffusion of Fe(CN)63-/4- redox electrochemical probe through the nanochannels of VMSF. The resulting reduced electrochemical responses are related to the AFP concentration, allowing the linear determination of AFP with a wide dynamic linear range and a low limit of detection. Accuracy and potential of the developed aptasensor were also demonstrated in human serum by standard addition method.

Keywords: alpha fetoprotein; aptasensor; electrochemistry; vertically-ordered mesoporous silica films.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic illustration for the fabrication of electrochemical aptasensing interface (a) and AFP detection (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cross-sectional SEM (a) and top-view TEM (b) images of VMSF. (c) CV curves obtained at SM@VMSF/ITO and VMSF/ITO electrodes in 0.1 M KCl solution containing 2.5 mM K3Fe(CN)6/K4Fe(CN)6. (d) Nyquist plots of SM@VMSF/ITO and VMSF/ITO electrodes obtained in 0.1 M KCl solution containing 2.5 mM K3Fe(CN)6/K4Fe(CN)6.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CV curves (a) and EIS plots (b) of VMSF/ITO, O-VMSF/ITO, Apt/O-VMSF/ITO, BSA/Apt/O-VMSF/ITO and AFP/BSA/Apt/O-VMSF/ITO electrodes obtained in 0.1 M KCl containing 2.5 mM K3Fe(CN)6/K4Fe(CN)6. The concentration of AFP is 1 ng/mL.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of coupling time for aptamer immobilization (a), aptamer concentration (b) and incubation time for AFP (c) on current signal value.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) DPV curves of the developed electrochemical aptasensor in the presence of different concentrations of AFP (1 pg/mL–1 μg/mL). (b) Corresponding calibration curve.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Electrochemical responses of BSA/Apt/O-VMSF/ITO sensor to CEA, S-100, CA199, CA125, AFP or their mixture. I0 and I denote the anodic peak current before (I0) and after (I) incubation with AFP or other antigens and ΔI = I − I0. The concentration of AFP and other proteins are 0.1 ng/mL and 1 ng/mL, respectively. (b) Anodic peak currents obtained at five different electrodes. (c) Stability of the developed electrochemical aptasensor after storage for different days. The concentration of AFP in (b,c) is 1.0 ng/mL.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bhardwaj N., Perera M., Silva M. Current treatment approaches to HCC with a special consideration to transplantation. J. Transplant. 2016;2016:7926264. doi: 10.1155/2016/7926264. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Benson A.B., D’Angelica M.I., Abrams T.A., Are C., Bloomston P.M., Chang D.T., Clary B.M., Covey A.M., Ensminger W.D., Iyer R. Hepatobiliary cancers, version 2.2014. J. Natl. Compr. Cancer Netw. 2014;12:1152–1182. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2014.0112. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li J., Gao T., Gu S., Zhi J., Yang J., Li G. An electrochemical biosensor for the assay of alpha-fetoprotein-L3 with practical applications. Biosens. Bioelectron. 2017;87:352–357. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2016.08.071. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Preechakasedkit P., Siangproh W., Khongchareonporn N., Ngamrojanavanich N., Chailapakul O. Development of an automated wax-printed paper-based lateral flow device for alpha-fetoprotein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Biosens. Bioelectron. 2018;102:27–32. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2017.10.051. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dai H., Yang C., Tong Y., Xu G., Ma X., Lin Y., Chen G. Label-free electrochemiluminescent immunosensor for α-fetoprotein: Performance of nafion–carbon nanodots nanocomposite films as antibody carriers. Chem. Commun. 2012;48:3055–3057. doi: 10.1039/C1CC16571B. - DOI - PubMed