Detection of protective antigen, an anthrax specific toxin in human serum by using surface plasmon resonance

Research on Detection of Ultra-Low Concentration Anthrax Protective Antigen Using Graphene Field-Effect Transistor Biosensor

BACKGROUND

Protective antigen (PA) is an important biomarker for the early diagnosis of anthrax, and the accurate detection of protective antigen under extremely low concentration conditions has always been a hot topic in the biomedical field. To complete the diagnosis of anthrax in a timely manner, it is necessary to detect PA at extremely low concentrations, as the amount of PA produced in the early stage of anthrax invasion is relatively small. Graphene field-effect transistor (Gr-FET) biosensors are a new type of material for preparing biosensors, with the advantages of a short detection time and ultra-low detection limit.

METHODS

The effect of different concentrations of diluents on the affinity of PA monoclonal antibodies was determined via an ELISA experiment. Combined with the Debye equation, 0.01 × PBS solution was finally selected as the diluent for the experiment. Then, a PA monoclonal antibody was selected as the bio-recognition element to construct a Gr-FET device based on CVD-grown graphene, which was used to detect the concentration of PA while recording the response time, linear range, detection limit, and other parameters.

RESULTS

The experimental results showed that the biosensor could quickly detect PA, with a linear range of 10 fg/mL to 100 pg/mL and a detection limit of 10 fg/mL. In addition, the biosensor showed excellent specificity and repeatability.

CONCLUSIONS

By constructing a Gr-FET device based on CVD-grown graphene and selecting a PA monoclonal antibody as the bio-recognition element, a highly sensitive, specific, and repeatable Gr-FET biosensor was successfully prepared for detecting extremely low concentrations of anthrax protective antigen (PA). This biosensor is expected to have a wide range of applications in clinical medicine and biological safety monitoring.

Recent progress and challenges on the bioassay of pathogenic bacteria

The present review (containing 242 references) illustrates the importance and application of optical and electrochemical methods as well as their performance improvement using various methods for the detection of pathogenic bacteria. The application of advanced nanomaterials including hyper branched nanopolymers, carbon-based materials and silver, gold and so on. nanoparticles for biosensing of pathogenic bacteria was also investigated. In addition, a summary of the applications of nanoparticle-based electrochemical biosensors for the identification of pathogenic bacteria has been provided and their advantages, detriments and future development capabilities was argued. Therefore, the main focus in the present review is to investigate the role of nanomaterials in the development of biosensors for the detection of pathogenic bacteria. In addition, type of nanoparticles, analytes, methods of detection and injection, sensitivity, matrix and method of tagging are also argued in detail. As a result, we have collected electrochemical and optical biosensors designed to detect pathogenic bacteria, and argued outstanding features, research opportunities, potential and prospects for their development, according to recently published research articles.

Anthrax Toxin Detection: From In Vivo Studies to Diagnostic Applications

Anthrax toxins are produced by Bacillus anthracis throughout infection and shape the physiopathogenesis of the disease. They are produced in low quantities but are highly efficient. They have thus been long ignored, but recent biochemical methods have improved our knowledge in animal models. This article reviews the various methods that have been used and how they could be applied to clinical diagnosis.

Dual-Readout Sandwich Immunoassay for Device-Free and Highly Sensitive Anthrax Biomarker Detection

We report a dual-readout, AuNP-based sandwich immunoassay for the device-free colorimetric and sensitive scanometric detection of disease biomarkers. An AuNP-antibody conjugate serves as a signal transduction and amplification agent by promoting the reduction and deposition of either platinum or gold onto its surface, generating corresponding colorimetric or light scattering (scanometric) signals, respectively. We apply the Pt-based colorimetric readout of this assay to the discovery of a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) sandwich pair for the detection of an anthrax protective antigen (PA83). The identified antibody pair detects PA83 down to 1 nM in phosphate-buffered saline and 5 nM in human serum, which are physiologically relevant concentrations. Reducing gold rather than platinum onto the mAb-AuNP sandwich enables scanometric detection of subpicomolar PA83 concentrations, over 3 orders of magnitude more sensitive than the colorimetric readout.

Detecting Biothreat Agents: From Current Diagnostics to Developing Sensor Technologies

Although a fundamental understanding of the pathogenicity of most biothreat agents has been elucidated and available treatments have increased substantially over the past decades, they still represent a significant public health threat in this age of (bio)terrorism, indiscriminate warfare, pollution, climate change, unchecked population growth, and globalization. The key step to almost all prevention, protection, prophylaxis, post-exposure treatment, and mitigation of any bioagent is early detection. Here, we review available methods for detecting bioagents including pathogenic bacteria and viruses along with their toxins. An introduction placing this subject in the historical context of previous naturally occurring outbreaks and efforts to weaponize selected agents is first provided along with definitions and relevant considerations. An overview of the detection technologies that find use in this endeavor along with how they provide data or transduce signal within a sensing configuration follows. Current "gold" standards for biothreat detection/diagnostics along with a listing of relevant FDA approved in vitro diagnostic devices is then discussed to provide an overview of the current state of the art. Given the 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus in Western Africa and the recent 2016 spread of Zika virus in the Americas, discussion of what constitutes a public health emergency and how new in vitro diagnostic devices are authorized for emergency use in the U.S. are also included. The majority of the Review is then subdivided around the sensing of bacterial, viral, and toxin biothreats with each including an overview of the major agents in that class, a detailed cross-section of different sensing methods in development based on assay format or analytical technique, and some discussion of related microfluidic lab-on-a-chip/point-of-care devices. Finally, an outlook is given on how this field will develop from the perspective of the biosensing technology itself and the new emerging threats they may face.

Development & validation of a quantitative anti-protective antigen IgG enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for serodiagnosis of cutaneous anthrax

Background & objectives:

Anthrax caused by Bacillus anthracis is primarily a disease of herbivorous animals, although several mammals are vulnerable to it. ELISA is the most widely accepted serodiagnostic assay for large scale surveillance of cutaneous anthrax. The aims of this study were to develop and evaluate a quantitative ELISA for determination of IgG antibodies against B. anthracis protective antigen (PA) in human cutaneous anthrax cases.

Methods:

Quantitative ELISA was developed using the recombinant PA for coating and standard reference serum AVR801 for quantification. A total of 116 human test and control serum samples were used in the study. The assay was evaluated for its precision, accuracy and linearity.

Results:

The minimum detection limit and lower limit of quantification of the assay for anti-PA IgG were 3.2 and 4 µg/ml, respectively. The serum samples collected from the anthrax infected patients were found to have anti-PA IgG concentrations of 5.2 to 166.3 µg/ml. The intra-assay precision per cent CV within an assay and within an operator ranged from 0.99 to 7.4 per cent and 1.7 to 3.9 per cent, respectively. The accuracy of the assay was high with a per cent error of 6.5 - 24.1 per cent. The described assay was found to be linear between the range of 4 to 80 ng/ml (R²=0.9982; slope=0.9186; intercept = 0.1108).

Interpretation & conclusions:

The results suggested that the developed assay could be a useful tool for quantification of anti-PA IgG response in human after anthrax infection or vaccination.

Advances in Anthrax Detection: Overview of Bioprobes and Biosensors

Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. Although anthrax commonly affects domestic and wild animals, it causes a rare but lethal infection in humans. A variety of techniques have been introduced and evaluated to detect anthrax using cultures, polymerase chain reaction, and immunoassays to address the potential threat of anthrax being used as a bioweapon. The high-potential harm of anthrax in bioterrorism requires sensitive and specific detection systems that are rapid, field-ready, and real-time monitoring. Here, we provide a systematic overview of anthrax detection probes with their potential applications in various ultra-sensitive diagnostic systems.

High-sensitivity MALDI-TOF MS quantification of anthrax lethal toxin for diagnostics and evaluation of medical countermeasures

Inhalation anthrax has a rapid progression and high fatality rate. Pathology and death from inhalation of Bacillus anthracis spores are attributed to the actions of secreted protein toxins. Protective antigen (PA) binds and imports the catalytic component lethal factor (LF), a zinc endoprotease, and edema factor (EF), an adenylyl cyclase, into susceptible cells. PA-LF is termed lethal toxin (LTx) and PA-EF, edema toxin. As the universal transporter for both toxins, PA is an important target for vaccination and immunotherapeutic intervention. However, its quantification has been limited to methods of relatively low analytic sensitivity. Quantification of LTx may be more clinically relevant than LF or PA alone because LTx is the toxic form that acts on cells. A method was developed for LTx-specific quantification in plasma using anti-PA IgG magnetic immunoprecipitation of PA and quantification of LF activity that co-purified with PA. The method was fast (<4 h total time to detection), sensitive at 0.033 ng/mL LTx in plasma for the fast analysis (0.0075 ng/mL LTx in plasma for an 18 h reaction), precise (6.3–9.9 % coefficient of variation), and accurate (0.1–12.7 %error; n ≥ 25). Diagnostic sensitivity was 100 % (n = 27 animal/clinical cases). Diagnostic specificity was 100 % (n = 141). LTx was detected post-antibiotic treatment in 6/6 treated rhesus macaques and 3/3 clinical cases of inhalation anthrax and as long as 8 days post-treatment. Over the course of infection in two rhesus macaques, LTx was first detected at 0.101 and 0.237 ng/mL at 36 h post-exposure and increased to 1147 and 12,107 ng/mL in late-stage anthrax. This demonstrated the importance of LTx as a diagnostic and therapeutic target. This method provides a sensitive, accurate tool for anthrax toxin detection and evaluation of PA-directed therapeutics.

Graphical Abstract

Anthrax: A disease of biowarfare and public health importance

Bioterrorism has received a lot of attention in the first decade of this century. Biological agents are considered attractive weapons for bioterrorism as these are easy to obtain, comparatively inexpensive to produce and exhibit widespread fear and panic than the actual potential of physical damage. Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis), the etiologic agent of anthrax is a Gram positive, spore forming, non-motile bacterium. This is supposed to be one of the most potent BW agents because its spores are extremely resistant to natural conditions and can survive for several decades in the environment. B. anthracis spores enter the body through skin lesion (cutaneous anthrax), lungs (pulmonary anthrax), or gastrointestinal route (gastrointestinal anthrax) and germinate, giving rise to the vegetative form. Anthrax is a concern of public health also in many countries where agriculture is the main source of income including India. Anthrax has been associated with human history for a very long time and regained its popularity after Sept 2001 incidence in United States. The present review article describes the history, biology, life cycle, pathogenicity, virulence, epidemiology and potential of B. anthracis as biological weapon.

Nanopore biosensor for label-free and real-time detection of anthrax lethal factor

We report a label-free real-time nanopore sensing method for the detection of anthrax lethal factor, a component of the anthrax toxin, by using a complementary single-stranded DNA as a molecular probe. The method is rapid and sensitive: sub-nanomolar concentrations of the target anthrax lethal factor DNA could be detected in ∼1 min. Further, our method is selective, which can differentiate the target DNA from other single-stranded DNA molecules at the single-base resolution. This sequence-specific detection approach should find useful application in the development of nanopore sensors for the detection of other pathogens.