CRISPR-powered biosensing platform for quantitative detection of alpha-fetoprotein by a personal glucose meter

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Vol. 390; p. 133994
• Main Authors: Jia, Zhengyang, Li, Ziyue, Liu, Changchun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Elsevier B.V 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Alpha-fetoprotein detection; Aptamer; CRISPR-Cas12a assay; Personal glucose meter; Point-of-care diagnosis; Alpha-fetoprotein detection; Point-of-care diagnosis; Personal glucose meter; Aptamer; CRISPR-Cas12a assay; personal glucose meter; aptamer; alpha-fetoprotein detection; point-of-care diagnosis
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077
• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2023.133994

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an important protein biomarker of liver cancer, as its serum levels are highly correlated with the progression of disease. Conventional immunoassays for AFP detection rely on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analyses with expensive and bulky equipment. Here, we developed a simple, affordable, and portable CRISPR-powered personal glucose meter biosensing platform for quantitative detection of the AFP biomarker in serum samples. The biosensor takes advantage of the excellent affinity of aptamer to AFP and the collateral cleavage activity of CRISPR-Cas12a, enabling sensitive and specific CRISPR-powered protein biomarker detection. To enable point-of-care testing, we coupled invertase-catalyzed glucose production with the glucose biosensing technology to quantify AFP. Using the developed biosensing platform, we quantitatively detected AFP biomarker in spiked human serum samples with a detection sensitivity of down to 10 ng/mL. Further, we successfully applied the biosensor to detect AFP in clinical serum samples from patients with liver cancer, achieving comparable performance to the conventional assay. Therefore, this novel CRISPR-powered personal glucose meter biosensor provides a simple yet powerful alternative for detecting AFP and potentially other tumor biomarkers at the point of care. [Display omitted] •A CRISPR-powered biosensor is developed to detect AFP biomarker.•AFP in serum samples was quantified by a simple personal glucose meter.•The biosensing platform shows a detection sensitivity of down to 10 ng/mL.•The affordable biosensor is validated to detect AFP in clinical serum samples.