Metabolic Fingerprinting on a Plasmonic Gold Chip for Mass Spectrometry Based in Vitro Diagnostics

Abstract

Current metabolic analysis is far from ideal to engage clinics and needs rationally designed materials and device. Here we developed a novel plasmonic chip for clinical metabolic fingerprinting. We first constructed a series of chips with gold nanoshells on the surface through controlled particle synthesis, dip-coating, and gold sputtering for mass production. We integrated the optimized chip with microarrays for laboratory automation and micro-/nanoscaled experiments, which afforded direct high-performance metabolic fingerprinting by laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using 500 nL of various biofluids and exosomes. Further we for the first time demonstrated on-chip in vitro metabolic diagnosis of early stage lung cancer patients using serum and exosomes. This work initiates a new bionanotechnology based platform for advanced metabolic analysis toward large-scale diagnostic use.

A coming era of precision diagnostics based on nano-assisted mass spectrometry

“…[10][11][12][13] To date, the state-of-art MS methods and techniques have advanced omics in all levels * Corresponding Authors: E-mail: jjwan@chem.ecnu.edu.cn, k.qian@sjtu.edu.cn including genomics, 14,15 proteomics, [16][17][18] and metabolomics. [19][20][21] Nowadays, interdisciplinary research is fundamental to achieve real case applications of MS in clinics. Particularly, development of nanotechnology enhanced sample treatment and detection efficiency of MS for diagnostics.…”

Design of plasmonic nanomaterials for diagnostic spectrometry

“…[3][4][5] The detection of biomarkers in bio-uids (e.g., serum) affords low invasiveness and high adaptability towards point-of-care (POC) applications. 6,7 In parallel, the detection of biomarkers in tissues serves as the gold standard for precision diagnosis in pathological examination. 5,8 However, it is difficult to detect biomarkers in real cases owing to the high complexity of biological samples and low abundance of target molecules.…”

“…12,13 With regard to composition, noble metals (e.g., Au and Ag) are the most used candidates for desirable surface plasmons. 6,14,15 With regard to morphology, micro/nanostructures may provide distinct light responses for personalized use. 16,17 With regard to surface chemistry, specic molecular probes on the surface afford efficient molecular capture and recognition.…”

Designable nanoplasmonic biomarkers for direct microscopy cytopathology diagnostics

“…Recent decades have seen the bloom of development of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs), being rapidly applied in various fields, such as catalysis , optics , and biomedicine . Due to their tremendous scattering efficiency, structural designability, optical tunability , and surface functionalization ability , colloidal plasmonic NPs and regular nanoplasmonic structures have brought new opportunities to a number of areas and opened doors for substantial challenges . Through designing the size, shape, and composition of plasmonic NPs, various types of plasmonic NPs have been engineered with specific plasmonic properties addressing different applications .…”