Gold aggregating gold: A novel nanoparticle biosensor approach for the direct quantification of hepatitis C virus RNA in clinical samples

Abstract

The affordable and reliable detection of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA is a cornerstone in the management and control of infection, affecting approximately 3% of the global population. However, the existing technologies are expensive, labor intensive and time consuming, posing significant limitations to their wide-scale exploitation, particularly in economically deprived populations. Here, we utilized the unique optical and physicochemical properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to develop a novel assay platform shown to be rapid and robust in sensing and quantifying unamplified HCV RNA in clinical samples. The assay is based on inducing aggregation of citrate AuNPs decorated with a specific nucleic acid probe. Two types of cationic AuNPs, cysteamine and CTAB capped, were compared to achieve maximum assay performance. The technology is simple, rapid, cost effective and quantitative with 93.3% sensitivity, high specificity and detection limit of 4.57 IU/µl. Finally, our data suggest that RNA folding impact the aggregation behavior of the functionalized AuNPs, with broader applications in other nucleic acid detection technologies.

Dna-Based Gold Nanoprobe Biosensor to Detect Pork Contaminant

“…In this study, materials such as NaCl or other processing aids are not used in the conjugation process of AuNP and probe. Unlike Shawky et al 8 that used cysteamine and CTAB as the processing aids in the conjugation process to obtain optimum aggregation results and resulting in a novelty, this study does not use processing aids. Nonetheless, the induction process of AuNP and probe has successfully bonded.…”

Microfluidic paper device for rapid detection of aflatoxin B1 using an aptamer based colorimetric assay

“…[32][33][34][35] Aggregation of gold nanoparticles is due to strong van der Waals forces at high salt concentrations that alter the charges on the surface of AuNPs resulting in aggregation. 36 Scheme 1 depicted colorimetric method for A B1 aptasensing. In this method, monodispersed gold colloids were prepared via citrate reduction method with SPR peak at 520 nm.…”

Design of a gold nanoprobe for the detection ofPseudomonas aeruginosaelastase gene (lasB)

“…11,12 Recently, researchers have shown great interest in using gold nanoparticles to identify pathogens. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] This method of detection is based on the property of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of gold nanoparticles. The change in the dispersion state of the nanoparticles results in a color change, which results in detection.…”