Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Electrical and Robotics Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia; Advanced Engineering Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia; Tropical Medicine and Biology Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: [email protected]
Talanta, 2024 Feb 01;268(Pt 2):125376.
PMID: 37951180 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.125376

Abstract

Serum levels of dengue virus (DENV) non-structural 1 (NS1) antigen can serve as a valuable prognostic indicator of severe dengue infections. A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)-based biosensor with a biomimetic recognition element was designed to quantitatively detect DENV NS1 as an early disease biomarker. To mitigate the reliance on costly viral antigens during the molecular imprinting process, a synthetic peptide mimicking a DENV NS1 epitope was used as a surrogate template for the synthesis of an epitope-imprinted polydopamine (EMIPDA) sensing film on the biosensor surface. The maximal frequency shift for DENV NS1 was obtained with an EMIPDA film synthesised using 5 mg mL-1 of dopamine monomer and 0.5 mg mL-1 of peptide template. The EMIPDA-QCM biosensor achieved low detection and quantitation limits of 0.091 μg mL-1 and 0.436 μg mL-1, respectively, allowing acute-phase detection of dengue and prognosis of the disease progression. The EMIPDA-QCM biosensor exhibited remarkable selectivity with up to 68-fold larger frequency responses towards DENV NS1 compared to a major serum protein. The site-specific imprinting approach not only enhanced the biosensing performance but also enabled a 26-fold cost reduction for biosensor functionalisation, providing a cost-effective strategy for label-free biosensing of the dengue biomarker via the biopolymer film.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.