Construction of scalable multi-channel DNA nanoplatform for the combined detection of multi-component biomarkers of cancer

Abstract

Single-level biomarker detection has the limitation of insufficient accuracy in cancer diagnosis. Therefore, the strategy of developing highly sensitive, multi-channel biosensors for multi-component biomarkers analysis is critical to improve the accuracy of early diagnosis of clinical tumors. Herein, in order to achieve efficient detection of up to ten targets for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer, a DNA-nanoswitch-based multi-channel (DNA-NSMC) biosensor was built based on the multi-module catalytic hairpin assembly-mediated signal amplification (CHA) and toehold-mediated DNA strand displacement (TDSD) reaction. In this work, only two different fluorescence signals are used as outputs, combined with modular segmentation strategy of DNA-nanoswitch-based reaction platform, the multi-channel detection of up to 10 targets is successfully achieved for the first time. The experimental results suggest that the proposed biosensor is a promising tool for simultaneously detecting multiple biomarkers for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer, offering new strategies for the early screening, diagnosis, and treatment not only for ovarian cancer but also for other cancers.