Abstract
A specialized biosensor allows quick and accurate detection of multiple sepsis biomarkers—procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and pathogen-associated molecular patterns—from a blood sample. The sensor was developed as a collaboration between Harvard's Wyss Institute and the University of Bath. It combines graphene nanoparticles with a bovine serum albumin composite to allow the detection of multiple biomarkers in one test.
It has long been a goal to develop an electrochemical sensor for sepsis that can run multiple tests at the same time.
Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues achieved this by combining graphene nanoparticles, which helps prevent biological material sticking to the sensor while maintaining electroconductivity, with a thin composite coating of bovine serum albumin. When desired biomarkers stick to the coating, an electrical signal is generated and a measurement recorded.
The team first added antibodies to the sensor that could detect procalcitonin, which is produced by many cells in response to bacterial infections, and checked its accuracy compared with a standard ELISA assay. They then created a multiplex sensor by adding elements that could detect C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation often raised in sepsis, and pathogen-associated molecular patterns. The latter element uses a genetically modified protein called FcMBL, developed at Wyss, that has the ability to bind more than 100 different pathogenic microbes and their associated biomarkers, which are often released into the blood during sepsis.
As reported in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the researchers found that the multiplex sensor detected biomarkers in a clinically significant range and did not show any cross-reactivity, which has caused problems with accuracy in the past.