Chirality-based Au@Ag Nanorod Dimers Sensor for Ultrasensitive PSA Detection

Expanding the Role of Chiral Drugs and Chiral Nanomaterials as a Potential Therapeutic Tool

Chirality, the property of molecules having mirror-image forms, plays a crucial role in pharmaceutical and biomedical research. This review highlights its growing importance, emphasizing how chiral drugs and nanomaterials impact drug effectiveness, safety, and diagnostics. Chiral molecules serve as precise diagnostic tools, aiding in accurate disease detection through unique biomolecule interactions. The article extensively covers chiral drug applications in treating cardiovascular diseases, CNS disorders, local anesthesia, anti-inflammatories, antimicrobials, and anticancer drugs. Additionally, it explores the emerging field of chiral nanomaterials, highlighting their suitability for biomedical applications in diagnostics and therapeutics, enhancing medical treatments.

Development of highly sensitive dual-enhanced fluorescence quenching immunochromatographic test strips based on Pt nanoprobes

The fluorescence-quenching method is crucial in vitro analysis, particularly for immunochromatographic test strips (ICTs) using noble metal nanoparticles as probes. However, ICTs still fall short in meeting the requirements for the detection of traces biomarkers due to the noble metal nanoparticles can only quench fluorescence of the dyes within a confined distance. Interestingly, noble metal nanoparticles, such as Pt NPs cannot only perform fluorescence-quenching ability based on the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), but also show perfect oxidase-like catalytic performance on many kinds of substrates, such as 3,3',5,5' -tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). We observed that the oxTMB (the oxidation products of TMB) exhibited notable effectiveness in quenching Cy5 fluorescence by the strong inner filter effect (IFE), which obviously improved the fluorescence-quenching efficiency with extremely low background signal. Through the dual-enhanced fluorescence quenching mechanism, the fluorescence quenching constant (Kn) was 661.24-fold that of only Pt NPs on the NC membrane. To validate the feasibility of this technique, we employed two types of biomarkers, namely microRNA (miR-15a-5p) and the signature protein (PSA). The sensitivity of miR-15a-5p was 9.286 × 10-18 mol/L and 17.5-fold more than that based on Pt NPs. As for the PSA, the LOD (0.6265 pg/mL) was 15.5-fold enhancement more sensitive after catalysis. Overall, the dual-enhanced fluorescence quenching rFICTs could act as a practical detection for biomarker in real samples.

Prostate-Specific Antigen as an Ultrasensitive Biomarker for Patients with Early Recurrent Prostate Cancer: How Low Shall We Go? A Systematic Review

Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) needs to be monitored with ultrasensitive PSA assays (uPSAs) for oncologists to be able to start salvage radiotherapy (SRT) while PSA is <0.5 µg/L for patients with prostate cancer (PCa) relapsing after a radical prostatectomy (RP). Our systematic review (SR) aimed to summarize uPSAs for patients with localized PCa. The SR was registered as InPLASY2023110084. We searched for studies on Google Scholar, PUBMED and reference lists of reviews and studies. We only included studies on uPSAs published in English and excluded studies of women, animals, sarcoidosis and reviews. Of the 115 included studies, 39 reported PSA assay methods and 76 reported clinical findings. Of 67,479 patients, 14,965 developed PSA recurrence (PSAR) and 2663 died. Extremely low PSA nadir and early developments of PSA separated PSAR-prone from non-PSAR-prone patients (cumulative p value 3.7 × 1012). RP patients with the lowest post-surgery PSA nadir and patients who had the lowest PSA at SRT had the fewest deaths. In conclusion, PSA for patients with localized PCa in the pre-PSAR phase of PCa is strongly associated with later PSAR and survival. A rising but still exceedingly low PSA at SRT predicts a good 5-year overall survival.

Advances in single molecule arrays (SIMOA) for ultra-sensitive detection of biomolecules

In the contemporary era of scientific and medical advancements, the accurate and ultra-sensitive detection of proteins, nucleic acids and metabolites plays a pivotal role in disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Single-molecule detection technologies play a great role in achieving this goal. In recent years, digital detection methods based on single molecule arrays (SIMOA) have brought groundbreaking contributions to the field of single-molecule detection. By confining the target molecules to femtoliter-sized containers, the SIMOA technology achieves detection sensitivity of attomolar. This review delves into the historical evolution and fundamentals of SIMOA technology, summarizes various approaches to optimize its performance, and describes the applications of SIMOA for the ultrasensitive detection of biomarkers for diseases such as cancer, COVID-19, and neurological disorders, as well as in DNA detection. Currently, some SIMOA technologies have been realized for high-throughput and multiplexed detection. It is believed that SIMOA technology will play a significant role in medical monitoring and disease prevention in the future.

Chiral Assembly of Perovskite Nanocrystals: Sensitive Discrimination of Amino Acid Enantiomers

Chirality is a widespread phenomenon in nature and in living organisms and plays an important role in living systems. The sensitive discrimination of chiral molecular enantiomers remains a challenge in the fields of chemistry and biology. Establishing a simple, fast, and efficient strategy to discriminate the spatial configuration of chiral molecular enantiomers is of great significance. Chiral perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have attracted much attention because of their excellent optical activity. However, it is a challenge to prepare perovskites with both chiral and fluorescence properties for chiral sensing. In this work, we synthesized two chiral fluorescent perovskite nanocrystal assembly (PNA) enantiomers by using l- or d-phenylalanine (Phe) as chiral ligands. PNA exhibited good fluorescence recognition for l- and d-proline (Pro). Homochiral interaction led to fluorescence enhancement, while heterochiral interaction led to fluorescence quenching, and there is a good linear relationship between the fluorescence changing rate and l- or d-Pro concentration. Mechanism studies show that homochiral interaction-induced fluorescence enhancement is attributed to the disassembly of chiral PNA, while no disassembly of chiral PNA was found in heterochiral interaction-induced fluorescence quenching, which is attributed to the substitution of Phe on the surface of chiral PNA by heterochiral Pro. This work suggests that chiral perovskite can be used for chiral fluorescence sensing; it will inspire the development of chiral nanomaterials and chiral optical sensors.

Characterizing chiroptical properties of 2D/3D structures based on an improved coupled dipole theory

To reveal the difference/connection between two-dimensional and three- dimensional (2D and 3D) chiroptical properties and their relation with 2D/3D symmetry/breaking, we develop an improved coupled dipole theory (ICDT) based on a model system of nanorod (NR) dimer. Our analytical ICDT can overcome the shortcoming of the traditional coupled dipole theory and points out the important role of scattering circular dichroism (SCD) in characterizing 2D chirality. The ICDT, supported by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation, reveals the physical origin of 2D chiroptical response: the interaction induced asymmetric effective polarizability for two identical NRs in a symmetry broken configuration. By tuning the NR's position/inter-particle distance, we find an optimal structure of maximum SCD due to the competition between geometric symmetry breaking and interaction. In addition, the interplay between 2D in-plane mirror symmetry breaking and three-dimensional (3D) mirror symmetry breaking leads to a symmetry broken system with zero SCD. The relation between chirality and reciprocity has also been addressed.

Nanophotonic Enhanced Chiral Sensing and Its Biomedical Applications

Chiral sensing is crucial in the fields of biology and the pharmaceutical industry. Many naturally occurring biomolecules, i.e., amino acids, sugars, and nucleotides, are inherently chiral. Their enantiomers are strongly associated with the pharmacological effects of chiral drugs. Owing to the extremely weak chiral light-matter interactions, chiral sensing at an optical frequency is challenging, especially when trace amounts of molecules are involved. The nanophotonic platform allows for a stronger interaction between the chiral molecules and light to enhance chiral sensing. Here, we review the recent progress in nanophotonic-enhanced chiral sensing, with a focus on the superchiral near-field and enhanced circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy generated in both the dielectric and in plasmonic structures. In addition, the recent applications of chiral sensing in biomedical fields are discussed, including the detection and treatment of difficult diseases, i.e., Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A multispectroscopic approach for ultra-trace sensing of prostate specific antigen (PSA) by iron nanocomposite fabricated on graphene nanoplatelet

Herein we report an easy, rapid and cost-effective method for spectroscopic sensing of a prostate cancer biomarker prostate specific antigen (PSA) using a novel nanocomposite. The material is a synthetic quinoxaline derivative-based iron nanocomposite fabricated on graphene nanoplatelet surface (1d-Fe-Gr). Presence of graphene enhanced the efficacy of synthesized 1d-Fe-Gr to sense PSA in serum medium with an impressive limit of detection (LOD) value of 0.878 pg/mL compared to 1d-Fe alone (LOD 17.619 pg/mL) using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. LOD of PSA by 1d-Fe-Gr using Raman spectroscopy is even more impressive (0.410 pg/mL). Moreover, presence of interfering biomolecules like glucose, cholesterol, bilirubin and insulin in serum improves the detection threshold significantly in presence of 1d-Fe-Gr which otherwise cause LOD values of PSA to elevate in control sets. In presence of these biomolecules, the LOD values improve significantly as compared to healthy conditions in the range 0.623-3.499 pg/mL. Thus, this proposed detection method could also be applied efficiently to the patients suffering from different pathophysiological disorders. These biomolecules may also be added externally during analyses to improve the sensing ability. Fluorescence, Raman and circular dichroism spectroscopy were used to study the underlying mechanism of PSA sensing by 1d-Fe-Gr. Molecular docking studies confirm the selective interaction of 1d-Fe-Gr with PSA over other cancer biomarkers.

Probing Interactions between Chiral Plasmonic Nanoparticles and Biomolecules

Chiral plasmonic nanoparticles (and their assemblies) interact with biomolecules in a variety of different ways, resulting in distinct optical signatures when probed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. These systems show promise for biosensing applications and offer several advantages over achiral plasmonic systems. Arguably the most notable advantage is that chiral nanoparticles can differentiate between molecular enantiomers and can, therefore, act as sensors for enantiomeric purity. Furthermore, chiral nanoparticles can couple more effectively to chiral biomolecules in biological systems if they have a matching handedness, improving their effectiveness as biomedical agents. In this article, we review the different types of interactions that occur between chiral plasmonic nanoparticle systems and biomolecules, and discuss how circular dichroism spectroscopy can probe these interactions and inform how to optimize systems for biosensing and biomedical applications.

Chiral probes for biosensing

Chiral inorganic nanomaterials have emerged as a highly promising area of research in nanoscience due to their exceptional light-matter interaction and vast potential applications in chiral sensing, asymmetric catalysis, enantiomer separation, and negative-index materials. We present an overview of the latest advances in chiral inorganic nanomaterials including chiral individual nanoparticles, chiral assemblies, and chiral film-based sensors over the past ten years. Additionally, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives for developing chiral nanomaterials in biosensing applications.

DNA-directed assembly of nanomaterials and their biomedical applications

In the past decades, DNA has been widely used in the field of nanostructures due to its unique programmable properties. Besides being used to form its own diverse structures such as the assembly of DNA origami, DNA can also be used for the assembly of nanostructures with other materials. In this review, different strategies for the functionalization of DNA on nanoparticle surfaces are listed, and the roles of DNA in the assembly of nanostructures as well as the influencing factors are discussed. Finally, the biomedical applications of DNA-assembled nanostructures were summarized. This review provided new insight into the application of DNA in nanostructure assembly.

Gold-Nanoparticle-Based Chiral Plasmonic Nanostructures and Their Biomedical Applications

As chiral antennas, plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) can enhance chiral responses of chiral materials by forming hybrid structures and improving their own chirality preference as well. Chirality-dependent properties of plasmonic NPs broaden application potentials of chiral nanostructures in the biomedical field. Herein, we review the wet-chemical synthesis and self-assembly fabrication of gold-NP-based chiral nanostructures. Discrete chiral NPs are mainly obtained via the seed-mediated growth of achiral gold NPs under the guide of chiral molecules during growth. Irradiation with chiral light during growth is demonstrated to be a promising method for chirality control. Chiral assemblies are fabricated via the bottom-up assembly of achiral gold NPs using chiral linkers or guided by chiral templates, which exhibit large chiroplasmonic activities. In describing recent advances, emphasis is placed on the design and synthesis of chiral nanostructures with the tuning and amplification of plasmonic circular dichroism responses. In addition, the review discusses the most recent or even emerging trends in biomedical fields from biosensing and imaging to disease diagnosis and therapy.

Onset of Chirality in Plasmonic Meta-Molecules and Dielectric Coupling

Chirality is a fundamental feature in all domains of nature, ranging from particle physics over electromagnetism to chemistry and biology. Chiral objects lack a mirror plane and inversion symmetry and therefore cannot be spatially aligned with their mirrored counterpart, their enantiomer. Both natural molecules and artificial chiral nanostructures can be characterized by their light-matter interaction, which is reflected in circular dichroism (CD). Using DNA origami, we assemble model meta-molecules from multiple plasmonic nanoparticles, representing meta-atoms accurately positioned in space. This allows us to reconstruct piece by piece the impact of varying macromolecular geometries on their surrounding optical near fields. Next to the emergence of CD signatures in the instance that we architect a third dimension, we design and implement sign-flipping signals through addition or removal of single particles in the artificial molecules. Our data and theoretical modeling reveal the hitherto unrecognized phenomenon of chiral plasmonic-dielectric coupling, explaining the intricate electromagnetic interactions within hybrid DNA-based plasmonic nanostructures.

Biological applications of chiral inorganic nanomaterials

Chirality is common in nature and plays the essential role in maintaining physiological process. Chiral inorganic nanomaterials with intense optical activity have attracted more attention due to amazing properties in recent years. Over the past decades, many efforts have been paid to the preparation and chirality origin of chiral nanomaterials; furthermore, emerging biological applications have been investigated widely. This review mainly summarizes recent advances in chiral nanomaterials. The top-down and bottom-up preparation methods and chirality origin of chiral nanomaterials are introduced; besides, the biological applications, such as sensing, therapy, and catalysis, will be introduced comprehensively. Finally, we also provide a perspective on the biomedical applications of chiral nanomaterials.

Measurement of total and free prostate specific antigen (PSA) in human serum samples using an ultra-microanalytical system

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a serine protease used for the screening of prostate cancer. The total portion of PSA (tPSA) can be found in its free form (fPSA), or bound to other proteins forming a stable complex. A heterogeneous sandwich-type UltraMicro Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (UMELISA) has been developed for the measurement of tPSA and fPSA in human serum samples. Strips coated with a high affinity monoclonal antibody (MAb) directed against PSA are used as solid phase, to ensure the specificity of the assay. Biotinylated MAbs specific for tPSA and fPSA ensured sensitivity, given the high affinity binding to streptavidin. The assay was completed in 1.5 h, with a measuring range 0.019-20 µg/L (tPSA), and 0.009-20 µg/L (fPSA). The intra- and inter-assay CV were lower than 9%. Recovery percentages were 96-105%. High correlations were found between the values of the UMELISA PSA standards and the International Reference Standards 96/670 (R² = 0.9996) and 96/688 (R² = 0.9989). The assay did not recognize any of the interfering molecules tested. Regression analysis of serum samples showed a good correlation with Roche Elecsys total PSA (n = 631, R² = 0.986, ρc = 0.992), BioMérieux VIDAS TPSA (n = 631, R² = 0.989, ρc = 0.993) and Roche Elecsys free PSA (n = 164, R² = 0.973, ρc = 0.979), all with a relative difference below 15%, and a p < 0.001. A retrospective study of the use of UMELISA PSA in Cuba was carried out. The analytical performance characteristics of UMELISA PSA support its use for the quantification of tPSA and fPSA in human serum samples in a single kit, making it an affordable diagnostic assay available to Cuban Public Health System and developing countries. Between the years 2014-2020, more than 3 million Cuban patients have benefited from the test for free.

Self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures

Controlled assembly of inorganic nanoparticles with different compositions, sizes and shapes into higher-order structures of collective functionalities is a central pursued objective in chemistry, physics, materials science and nanotechnology. The emerging chiral superstructures, which break spatial symmetries at the nanoscale, have attracted particular attention, owing to their unique chiroptical properties and potential applications in optics, catalysis, biology and so on. Various bottom-up strategies have been developed to build inorganic chiral superstructures based on the intrinsic configurational preference of the building blocks, external fields or chiral templates. Self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures have demonstrated significant superior optical activity from the strong electric/magnetic coupling between the building blocks, as compared with the organic counterparts. In this Review, we discuss recent progress in preparing self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures, with an emphasis on the driving forces that enable symmetry breaking during the assembly process. The chiroptical properties and applications are highlighted and a forward-looking trajectory of where research efforts should be focused is discussed.

Gold Nanorods: The Most Versatile Plasmonic Nanoparticles

Gold nanorods (NRs), pseudo-one-dimensional rod-shaped nanoparticles (NPs), have become one of the burgeoning materials in the recent years due to their anisotropic shape and adjustable plasmonic properties. With the continuous improvement in synthetic methods, a variety of materials have been attached around Au NRs to achieve unexpected or improved plasmonic properties and explore state-of-the-art technologies. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the latest progress on Au NRs, the most versatile anisotropic plasmonic NPs. We present a representative overview of the advances in the synthetic strategies and outline an extensive catalogue of Au-NR-based heterostructures with tailored architectures and special functionalities. The bottom-up assembly of Au NRs into preprogrammed metastructures is then discussed, as well as the design principles. We also provide a systematic elucidation of the different plasmonic properties associated with the Au-NR-based structures, followed by a discussion of the promising applications of Au NRs in various fields. We finally discuss the future research directions and challenges of Au NRs.

Plasmonic Enhancement of Chiroptical Property in Enantiomers Using a Helical Array of Magnetoplasmonic Nanoparticles for Ultrasensitive Chiral Recognition

Recognition of enantiomeric molecules is essential in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. In this Article, a novel approach is introduced to monitor chiral molecules via a helical magnetic field (hB), where chiral-inactive magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles (MagPlas NPs, Ag@Fe₃O₄ core-shell NPs) are assembled into helical nanochain structures to be chiral-active. An in-house generator of hB-induced chiral NP assembly, that is, a plasmonic chirality enhancer (PCE), is newly fabricated to enhance the circular dichroism (CD) signals from chiral plasmonic interaction of the helical nanochain assembly with circularly polarized light, reaching a limit of detection (LOD) of 10^-10 M, a 1000-fold enhancement as compared to that of conventional CD spectrometry. These enhancements were successfully observed from enantiomeric molecules, oligomers, polymers, and drugs. Computational simulation studies also proved that total chiroptical properties of helical plasmonic chains could be readily changed by modifying the chiral structure of the analytes. The proposed PCE has the potential to be used as an advanced tool for qualitative and quantitative recognition of chiral materials, enabling further application in pharmaceutical and biomedical sensing and imaging.

A Chiral Molecular Cage Comprising Diethynylallenes and N-Heterotriangulenes for Enantioselective Recognition

Chirality, a characteristic tool of molecular recognition in nature, is often a complement of redox active systems. Scientists, in their eagerness to mimic such sophistication, have designed numerous chiral systems based on molecular entities with cavities, such as macrocycles and cages. In an attempt to combine chirality and redox-active species, in this contribution we report the synthesis and detailed characterization of a chiral shape-persistent molecular cage based on the combination of enantiopure diethynylallenes and electron-rich bridged triarylamines, also known as N-heterotriangulenes. Its ability for chiral recognition in solution was revealed through UV/vis titrations with enantiopure helicenes.

Shining light on chiral inorganic nanomaterials for biological issues

The rapid development of chiral inorganic nanostructures has greatly expanded from intrinsically chiral nanoparticles to more sophisticated assemblies made by organics, metals, semiconductors, and their hybrids. Among them, lots of studies concerning on hybrid complex of chiral molecules with achiral nanoparticles (NPs) and superstructures with chiral configurations were accordingly conducted due to the great advances such as highly enhanced biocompatibility with low cytotoxicity and enhanced penetration and retention capability, programmable surface functionality with engineerable building blocks, and more importantly tunable chirality in a controlled manner, leading to revolutionary designs of new biomaterials for synergistic cancer therapy, control of enantiomeric enzymatic reactions, integration of metabolism and pathology via bio-to nano or structural chirality. Herein, in this review our objective is to emphasize current research state and clinical applications of chiral nanomaterials in biological systems with special attentions to chiral metal- or semiconductor-based nanostructures in terms of the basic synthesis, related circular dichroism effects at optical frequencies, mechanisms of induced optical chirality and their performances in biomedical applications such as phototherapy, bio-imaging, neurodegenerative diseases, gene editing, cellular activity and sensing of biomarkers so as to provide insights into this fascinating field for peer researchers.

Reconfigurable Chirality of DNA-Bridged Nanorod Dimers

Gold nanorods assembled in a side-by-side chiral configuration have potential applications in sensing due to their strong chiroptical surface plasmon resonances. Recent experiments have shown that dimers of gold nanorods bridged by double-stranded DNA exhibit variable chiral configurations depending on the chemical and ionic properties of the solvent medium. Here, we uncover the underlying physics governing this intriguing chiral behavior of such DNA-bridged nanorods by theoretically evaluating their configurational free energy landscape. Our results reveal how chiral configurations emerge from an interplay between the twist-stretch coupling of the intervening DNA and the intermolecular interactions between the nanorods, with dimers exhibiting left-handed chirality when the interparticle interactions are dominated by attractive depletion or van der Waals forces and right-handed chirality when dominated by repulsive electrostatic or steric forces. We demonstrate how changes in the depletant or ion concentration of the solvent medium lead to different classes of configurational responses by the dimers, including chirality-switching behavior, in good agreement with experimental observations. Based on extensive analyses of how material properties like nanorod aspect ratio, DNA length, and graft height modulate the free energy landscape, we propose strategies for tuning the environmentally responsive reconfigurability of the nanorod dimers. Overall, this work should help control the chirality and related optical activity of nanoparticle dimers and higher-order assemblies for various applications.

Persistent luminescence nanorods-based autofluorescence-free biosensor for prostate-specific antigen detection

Persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) are a class of materials with excellent optical properties, which can continue to emit light for a long time after removing the excitation light source. This feature enables PLNPs to be used for development of biological detection modes without autofluorescence background. In this study, we prepared Zn₂GeO₄: Mn²⁺, Pr³⁺ (ZGOMP) nanorods through a one-pot hydrothermal method. Using the pH-responsive luminescence behavior of ZGOMP, we developed an autofluorescence-free biosensor using ZGOMP as a probe and gluconic acid as a quencher to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and magnetic separation system were introduced in the design to achieve efficient signal amplification. Under the optimal conditions, the as-designed autofluorescence-free sensing platform showed high selectivity, and showed a good luminescence response to PSA within the linear range of 0.001-10 ng/mL at a detection limit of 0.64 pg/mL. The excellent analytical performance shows that the current strategy provides an effective platform for clinical sample analysis.

Long- and short-ranged chiral interactions in DNA-assembled plasmonic chains

Circular dichroism (CD) has long been used to trace chiral molecular states and changes of protein configurations. In recent years, chiral plasmonic nanostructures have shown potential for applications ranging from pathogen sensing to novel optical materials. The plasmonic coupling of the individual elements of such metallic structures is a crucial prerequisite to obtain sizeable CD signals. We here identify and implement various coupling entities-chiral and achiral-to demonstrate chiral transfer over distances close to 100 nm. The coupling is realized by an achiral nanosphere situated between a pair of gold nanorods that are arranged far apart but in a chiral fashion using DNA origami. The transmitter particle causes a strong enhancement of the CD response, the emergence of an additional chiral feature at the resonance frequency of the nanosphere, and a redshift of the longitudinal plasmonic resonance frequency of the nanorods. Matching numerical simulations elucidate the intricate chiral optical fields in complex architectures.

Nucleic Acids Analysis

Nucleic acids are natural biopolymers of nucleotides that store, encode, transmit and express genetic information, which play central roles in diverse cellular events and diseases in living things. The analysis of nucleic acids and nucleic acids-based analysis have been widely applied in biological studies, clinical diagnosis, environmental analysis, food safety and forensic analysis. During the past decades, the field of nucleic acids analysis has been rapidly advancing with many technological breakthroughs. In this review, we focus on the methods developed for analyzing nucleic acids, nucleic acids-based analysis, device for nucleic acids analysis, and applications of nucleic acids analysis. The representative strategies for the development of new nucleic acids analysis in this field are summarized, and key advantages and possible limitations are discussed. Finally, a brief perspective on existing challenges and further research development is provided.

Nanoparticle enhanced optical biosensing technologies for Prostate Specific Antigen biomarker detection

Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the deadliest forms of Cancer among men. Early screening process for PCa is primarily conducted with the help of a FDA approved biomarker known as Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). The PSA-based screening is challenged with the inability to differentiate between the cancerous PSA and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), resulting in high rates of false-positives. Optical techniques such as optical absorbance, scattering, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and fluorescence have been extensively employed for Cancer diagnostic applications. One of the most important diagnostic applications involves utilization of nanoparticles (NPs) for highly specific, sensitive, rapid, multiplexed, and high performance Cancer detection and quantification. The incorporation of NPs with these optical biosensing techniques allow realization of low cost, point-of-care, highly sensitive, and specific early cancer detection technologies, especially for PCa. In this work, the current state-of-the-art, challenges, and efforts made by the researchers for realization of low cost, point-of-care (POC), highly sensitive, and specific NP enhanced optical biosensing technologies for PCa detection using PSA biomarker are discussed and analyzed.

Artificial Chiral Probes and Bioapplications

The development of artificial chiral architectures, especially chiral inorganic nanostructures, has greatly promoted research into chirality in nanoscience. The nanoscale chirality of artificial chiral nanostructures offers many new application opportunities, including chiral catalysis, asymmetric synthesis, chiral biosensing, and others that may not be allowed by natural chiral molecules. Herein, the progress achieved during the past decade in chirality-associated biological applications (biosensing, biolabeling, and bioimaging) combined with individual chiral nanostructures (such as chiral semiconductor nanoparticles and chiral metal nanoparticles) or chiral assemblies is discussed.

Chiroptical Sensing: A Conceptual Introduction

Chiroptical responses have been an essential tool over the last decades for chemical structural elucidation due to their exceptional sensitivity to geometry and intermolecular interactions. In recent times, there has been an increasing interest in the search for more efficient sensing by the rational design of tailored chiroptical systems. In this review article, advances made in chiroptical systems towards their implementation in sensing applications are summarized. Strategies to generate chiroptical responses are illustrated. Theoretical approaches to assist in the design of these systems are discussed. The development of efficient chiroptical reporters in different states of matter, essential for the implementation in sensing devises, is reviewed. In the last part, remarkable examples of chiroptical sensing applications are highlighted.

DNA-Driven Nanoparticle Assemblies for Biosensing and Bioimaging

DNA molecules with superior flexibility, affinity and programmability have garnered considerable attention for the controllable assembly of nanoparticles (NPs). By controlling the density, length and sequences of DNA on NPs, the configuration of NP assemblies can be rationally designed. The specific recognition of DNA enables changes to be made to the spatial structures of NP assemblies, resulting in differences in tailorable optical signals. Comprehensive information on the fabrication of DNA-driven NP assemblies would be beneficial for their application in biosensing and bioimaging. This review analyzes the progress of DNA-driven NP assemblies, and discusses the tunable configurations determined by the structural parameters of DNA skeletons. The collective optical properties, such as chirality, fluorescence and surface enhanced Raman resonance (SERS), etc., of DNA-driven NP assemblies are explored, and engineered tailorable optical properties of these spatial structures are achieved. We discuss the development of DNA-directed NP assemblies for the quantification of DNA, toxins, and heavy metal ions, and demonstrate their potential application in the biosensing and bioimaging of tumor markers, RNA, living metal ions and phototherapeutics. We hihghlight possible challenges in the development of DNA-driven NP assemblies, and further direct potential prospects in the practical applications of macroscopical materials and photonic devices.

Focusing aptamer selection on the glycan structure of prostate-specific antigen: Toward more specific detection of prostate cancer

The development of chemical sensors capable of detecting the specific glycosylation patterns of proteins offers a powerful mean for the early detection of cancer. Unfortunately, this strategy is scarcely explored because receptors recognizing the glycans linked to proteins are challenging to discover. In this work, we describe a simple method for directing the selection of aptamers toward the glycan structure of the glycoproteins, with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a model target. Using this strategy, we identified one aptamer (PSA-1) that binds the glycan moiety of PSA with reasonable affinity (a dissociation constant of 177 ± 65 nM). Interestingly, an electrochemical sensor with a sandwich format employing the identified aptamer as a signaling receptor, provides a tool of discriminating human PSA from the unglycosylated protein, with a limit of detection of 0.66 ng/mL. The sensor responds to different levels of PSA in serum, correlating well with chemiluminescence ELISA used in hospitals even with higher potential to discriminate clinically meaningful prostate cancer. Although validation on a larger cohort is needed, this is the first demonstration of an aptamer-based sensor to detect PSA by focusing in its glycan moiety.

Geometric modulation of induced plasmonic circular dichroism in nanoparticle assemblies based on backaction and field enhancement

Chiral cysteine-directed assemblies of Au@Ag core-shell nanocrystals (CSNCs) and Au/Ag nanorods with end-to-end (ETE) and side-by-side (SBS) configurations are fabricated and used to explore the definitive factors affecting the chiral response. The interaction between cysteine and metallic nanoparticles leads to intense and widely tunable plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) ranging from a near-infrared (NIR) to ultraviolet (UV) regime. More importantly, it was observed that, in Ag nanorod and CSNC samples with varied aspect ratios, the ETE assembled patterns exhibit much larger PCD enhancement than SBS assemblies in an l/d-cysteine solvent environment. Very surprisingly, such a giant PCD response in these assemblies is completely different from that of the Au nanorod assembly case as reported earlier. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that the interplay between the local field enhancement and backaction, triggered by the geometric configuration differentia of covered achiral CTAB molecules on Ag and Au surfaces, plays a crucial role in chiral response variances and leads to geometry-dependent optical activities. This work not only sheds light on understanding the relationship between the configuration of plasmonic nanostructure assemblies and geometry-manipulated circular dichroism, but also paves the way for predictive design of plasmonic biosensors or other nanodevices with controllable optical activities from the UV to the NIR light range.

Electrochemical prostate specific antigen aptasensor based on hemin functionalized graphene-conjugated palladium nanocomposites

An electrochemical aptasensor is described for the detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA). The aptasensor is based on the use of hemin-functionalized graphene-conjugated palladium nanoparticles (H-Gr/PdNPs) deposited on a glassy carbon electrode. The nanocomposites integrate the high electrical conductivity of graphene with the easily functionalized surface chemistry of PdNPs and their excellent catalytic property. The hemin placed on graphene acts as both a protective agent and an in-situ redox probe. The PdNPs provide numerous binding sites for the immobilization of DNA-biotin via coordinative binding between Pd and amino groups. A sensitive and specific PSA assay was attained by immobilizing the PSA aptamer via biotin-streptavidin interaction. The resulting aptasensor has a linear response that covers the PSA concentration range from 0.025 to 205 ng·mL^-1, with a 8 pg·mL^-1 lower detection limit (at -0.362 V, scan rate: 0.1 mV·s^-1, S/N = 3). The method was applied to the quantitation of PSA in spiked serum samples, giving recoveries ranging from 95.0 to 100.3%. Graphical abstract A signal amplified and approving electrochemical aptasensor was constructed for the determination of prostate specific antigen (PSA) based on the use of hemin-functionalized graphene conjugated to palladium nanoparticles (H-Gr/PdNPs). The sensor has a wide linear range, a relatively low detection limit, satisfying stability and high specificity.

DNA-Nanotechnology-Enabled Chiral Plasmonics: From Static to Dynamic

The development of DNA nanotechnology, especially the advent of DNA origami, has made DNA ideally suited to construct nanostructures with unprecedented complexity and arbitrariness. As a fully addressable platform, DNA origami can be used to organize discrete entities in space through DNA hybridization with nanometer accuracy. Among a variety of functionalized particles, metal nanoparticles such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) feature an important pathway to endow DNA-origami-assembled nanostructures with tailored optical functionalities. When metal particles are placed in close proximity, their particle plasmons, i.e., collective oscillations of conduction electrons, can be coupled together, giving rise to a wealth of interesting optical phenomena. Nevertheless, characterization methods that can read out the optical responses from plasmonic nanostructures composed of small metal particles, and especially can optically distinguish in situ their minute conformation changes, are very few. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy has proven to be a successful means to overcome these challenges because of its high sensitivity in discrimination of three-dimensional conformation changes. In this Account, we discuss a variety of static and dynamic chiral plasmonic nanostructures enabled by DNA nanotechnology. In the category of static plasmonic systems, we first show chiral plasmonic nanostructures based on spherical AuNPs, including plasmonic helices, toroids, and tetramers. To enhance the CD responses, anisotropic gold nanorods with larger extinction coefficients are utilized to create chiral plasmonic crosses and helical superstructures. Next, we highlight the inevitable evolution from static to dynamic plasmonic systems along with the fast development of this interdisciplinary field. Several dynamic plasmonic systems are reviewed according to their working mechanisms. We first elucidate a reconfigurable plasmonic cross structure that can execute DNA-regulated conformational changes on the nanoscale. Hosted by a reconfigurable DNA origami template, the plasmonic cross can be switched between a chiral locked state and an achiral relaxed state through toehold-mediated strand displacement reactions. This reconfigurable nanostructure can also be modified in response to light stimuli, leading to a noninvasive, waste-free, and all-optically controlled system. Taking one step further, we show that selective manipulations of individual structural species coexisting in one ensemble can be achieved using pH tuning of reconfigurable plasmonic nanostructures in a programmable manner. Finally, we describe an alternative to achieving dynamic plasmonic systems by driving AuNPs directly on origami. Such plasmonic walkers, inspired by the biological molecular motors in living cells, can generate dynamic CD responses when carrying out directional, progressive, and reverse nanoscale walking on DNA origami. We envision that the combination of DNA nanotechnology and plasmonics will open an avenue toward a new generation of functional plasmonic systems with tailored optical properties and useful applications, including polarization conversion devices, biomolecular sensing, surface-enhanced Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, and diffraction-limited optics.

Biological Molecules-Governed Plasmonic Nanoparticle Dimers with Tailored Optical Behaviors

Self-assembly opens new avenues to direct the organization of nanoparticles (NPs) into discrete structures with predefined configuration and association numbers. Plasmonic NP dimers provide a well-defined system for investigating the plasmonic coupling and electromagnetic (EM) interaction in arrays of NPs. The programmability and structural plasticity of biomolecules offers a convenient platform for constructing of NP dimers in a controllable way. Plasmonic coupling of NPs enables dimers to exhibit tunable optical properties, such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), chirality, photoluminescence, and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) properties, which can be tailored by altering the biomolecules, the building blocks with distinct compositions, sizes and morphology, the interparticle distances, as well as the geometric configuration of the constituent NPs. An overview of recent developments in biological molecules-governed NP dimers, the tailored optical behaviors, and challenges in enhancing optical signals and proposing plasmonic biosensors are discussed in this Perspective.

Iodide-Switched Deposition for the Synthesis of Segmented Pd-Au-Pd Nanorods: Crystal Facet Matters

Segmented metallic nanorods with well-defined shapes and controllable components play an important role on the systematic investigation of their shape-dependent catalytic, electric, and plasmonic properties of metal nanostructures. Unfortunately, the shape and composition of segmented nanorods are difficult to be precisely controlled via colloidal methods. Here, we reported the growth of Pd-Au-Pd bimetallic heterostructures by using Au 5-fold twinned bipyramids (BPs) as seeds, with KI as a structure-directing reagent. Through a series of control experiments we revealed that two parameters were identified as critical factors for the growth of segmented Pd-Au-Pd nanorods. First, 5-fold twinned Au BPs with low-index end facets and high-index side facets function as a unique template for directed growth. Second, iodide can switch the deposition of Pd on the Au BPs. A high concentration of iodide is believed to block the high-index facets of the Au BPs and lower the reaction kinetics to promote the selective growth of two Pd segments on the Au BPs. As a result, uniformed segmented Pd-Au-Pd nanorods were obtained. The segmented nanorods exhibit intense extinction in the near-IR range and could be a potential candidate for plasmon-based biological applications such as thermal therapy.

Nanotechnology-Enhanced No-Wash Biosensors for in Vitro Diagnostics of Cancer

In vitro biosensors have been an integral component for early diagnosis of cancer in the clinic. Among them, no-wash biosensors, which only depend on the simple mixing of the signal generating probes and the sample solution without additional washing and separation steps, have been found to be particularly attractive. The outstanding advantages of facile, convenient, and rapid response of no-wash biosensors are especially suitable for point-of-care testing (POCT). One fast-growing field of no-wash biosensor design involves the usage of nanomaterials as signal amplification carriers or direct signal generating elements. The analytical capacity of no-wash biosensors with respect to sensitivity or limit of detection, specificity, stability, and multiplexing detection capacity is largely improved because of their large surface area, excellent optical, electrical, catalytic, and magnetic properties. This review provides a comprehensive overview of various nanomaterial-enhanced no-wash biosensing technologies and focuses on the analysis of the underlying mechanism of these technologies applied for the early detection of cancer biomarkers ranging from small molecules to proteins, and even whole cancerous cells. Representative examples are selected to demonstrate the proof-of-concept with promising applications for in vitro diagnostics of cancer. Finally, a brief discussion of common unresolved issues and a perspective outlook on the field are provided.

Sunlight Induced Preparation of Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles as Recyclable Colorimetric Dual Sensor for Aluminum and Fluoride in Water

A sunlight induced simple green route has been developed for the synthesis of polyacrylate functionalized gold nanoparticles (PAA-AuNPs), in which poly(acrylic acid) functions as a reducing as well as stabilizing agent. This material has been characterized on the basis of spectroscopic and microscopic studies; it exhibited selective colorimetric detection of Al³⁺ in aqueous media, and the Al³⁺ induced aggregated PAA-AuNPs exhibited detection of F^- with sharp color change and high selectivity and sensitivity out of a large number of metal ions and anions tested. The mechanistic study revealed that, for Al³⁺, the color change is due to a shift of the SPR band because of the Al³⁺ induced aggregation of PAA-AuNPs, whereas for F^-, the reverse color change (blue to red) with return of the SPR band to its original position is due to dispersion of aggregated PAA-AuNPs, as F^- removes Al³⁺ from the aggregated species by complex formation. Only concentration-dependent fluoride ion can prevent Al³⁺ from aggregating PAA-AuNPs. The method is successfully used for the detection of F^- in water collected from various sources by the spiking method, in toothpastes of different brands by the direct method. The solid Al³⁺-PAA-AuNPs were isolated, adsorbed on ZIF@8 (zeolitic imidazolate framework) and on a cotton strip, and applied as solid sensing material for detection of F^- in aqueous media.

Ultrasensitive Detection of Prostate-Specific Antigen and Thrombin Based on Gold-Upconversion Nanoparticle Assembled Pyramids

Self-assembled nanostructures have been used for the detection of numerous cancer biomarkers. In this study, a gold-upconversion-nanoparticle (Au-UCNP) pyramid based on aptamers is fabricated to simultaneously detect thrombin and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and fluorescence, respectively. The higher the concentration of thrombin, the lower the intensity of SERS. PSA connected with the PSA aptamer leads to an increase in fluorescence intensity. The limit of detection of thrombin and PSA reaches 57 × 10^-18 and 0.032 × 10^-18 m, respectively. In addition, the pyramid also exhibits great target specificity. The results of human serum target detection demonstrate that the Au-UCNP pyramid is an excellent choice for the quantitative determination of cancer biomarkers, and is feasible for the early diagnosis of cancer.

Highly Uniform Gold Nanobipyramids for Ultrasensitive Colorimetric Detection of Influenza Virus

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been frequently utilized for the construction of diverse colorimetric biosensors. Normally, AuNPs with sharp edges could have better sensitivity. However, the poor monodipersity of AuNPs with sharp edges seriously confines their utility for colorimetric biosensing. Herein, we demonstrate the utility of highly uniform gold nanobipyramids (Au NBPs) for ultrasensitive colorimetric detection of H₅N₁ virus. The proposed method is based on the fact that alkaline phosphatase (ALP) could catalyze the decomposition of 4-aminophenyl phosphate (4-APP) to generate 4-aminophenol (4-AP), which would then reduce silver nitrate to metal silver and then deposited on Au NBPs. The metal silver shell coated on the Au NBPs changed the refractive index of gold and thus resulted in a blue shift of longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and accompanied a vivid color change. This method exhibited a higher sensitivity than that of other Au NPs such as gold nanorods due to the high-index-faceted on the tips of the Au NBPs. This method was used to detect the activity of ALP. It exhibited a linear range of 0.1-5 mU/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.086 mU/mL. Finally, the proposed method was used in immunoassay to detect H₅N₁ virus. The results showed that the corresponding linear range for the detection of H₅N₁ virus antigen was 0.001-2.5 ng/mL, and the LOD was determined to be 1 pg/mL, which is more sensitive than those in most of the colorimetric biosensors reported previously.

Label-free and sensitive detection of microalgae protein using GNRs-based resonance light scattering system

A novel and label-free gold nanorods (GNRs)-based resonance light scattering system assay has been developed on the basis of that the interactions between microalgae proteins and GNRs could emit strong fluorescence signal.

Single-step homogeneous immunoassay for detecting prostate-specific antigen using dual-color light scattering of metal nanoparticles

Conventional sandwich-type immunoassays are widely used for protein biomarker detection, yet their workflows are challenged by the need for multiple incubation steps separated by washing cycles.