Substrate specificity-enabled terminal protection for direct quantification of circulating MicroRNA in patient serums

Endogenous MicroRNA Accurate Diagnostics to Guide Photothermal Therapy

Developing an intelligent theranostic nanoplatform with satisfied diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficiency holds great promise for personalized nanomedicine. Herein, we constructed a smart nanodevice for the accurate diagnosis of endogenous cancer microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers and efficient photothermal therapy (PTT). The nanodevice was composed of polydopamine (PDA)-functionalized CuS nanosheets (CuS@PDA NSs) and three elaborate DNA hairpin probes (TDHPs). The CuS@PDA NSs acted as efficient delivery vehicles and photothermal agents. They provided a large surface area available for an efficient and facile loading of TDHPs and a high-fluorescence (FL) quenching performance to achieve an ultralow background signal. The intracellular miRNA triggered TDHPs to assemble into three-arm branched junction structures for a strong fluorescence recovery as output signals to discriminate cancer cells from normal cells with an excellent sensitivity. The CuS@PAD NSs showed a good photothermal conversion efficiency in the near-infrared II (NIR II) region to mediate a good photothermal performance to kill cancer cells. A remarkable antitumor therapeutic effect was achieved in vivo. This work integrated highly sensitive detection to endogenous cancer biomarkers and valid therapeutic potency to tumor-bearing mice, indicating its promising biomedical applications.

Fabrication of bifunctional G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzymes for colorimetric detection of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 and microRNA-21

G-quadruplex-based complexes have been widely used in various analytical methods due to their outstanding capabilities of generating colorimetric, fluorescent or electrochemical signals. However, since loop sequences in traditional G-quadruplex structures are quite short, it is difficult to establish biosensors solely using G-quadruplex-based complexes. Herein, we attempted to lengthen the loop sequences of G-quadruplex structures and found that G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzymes (G-DNAzymes) with long loops (even 30 nucleotides) maintain high peroxidase activity. In addition, the peroxidase activity is not affected by the hybridization of the long loop with its complementary counterpart. Consequently, G-DNAzyme can be endowed with an additional function by taking the long loop as a recognition element, which may facilitate the construction of diverse colorimetric biosensors. Furthermore, by designing an apurinic/apyrimidinic site or a complementary sequence of microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) in long loops, bifunctional G-DNAzymes can be split in the presence of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) or miRNA-21, decreasing their peroxidase activities. Accordingly, APE1 and miRNA-21 are quantified using 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine as a chromophore. Using the G-DNAzyme, APE1 can be detected in a linear range from 2.5 to 22.5 U mL^-1 with a LOD of 1.8 U mL^-1. It is to be noted that benefitting from duplex-specific nuclease-induced signal amplification, the linear range of the miRNA-21 biosensor is broadened to 5 orders of magnitude, while the limit of detection is as low as 73 fM. This work demonstrates that G-DNAzymes with long loops can both generate signals and recognize targets, providing an alternative strategy to design G-quadruplex-based analytical methods.

A novel ratiometric electrochemical biosensing strategy based on T7 exonuclease-assisted homogenous target recycling coupling hairpin assembly-triggered double-signal output for the multiple amplified detection of miRNA

A novel ratiometric electrochemical biosensing strategy based on T7 exonuclease (T7 Exo)-assisted homogenous target recycling coupling hairpin assembly triggered dual-signal output was proposed for the accurate and sensitive detection of microRNA-141 (miRNA-141). Concretely, in the presence of target miRNA, abundant signal transduction probes were released via the T7 Exo-assisted homogenous target recycling amplification, which could be captured by the specially designed ferrocene-labeled hairpin probe (Fc-H1) on -electrode interface and triggered the nonenzymatic catalytic hairpin assembly (Fc-H1 + MB-H2) to realize the cascade signal amplification and dual-signal output. Through such a conformational change process, the electrochemical signal of Fc (IFc) and MB (IMB) is proportionally and substantially decreased and increased. Therefore, the signal ratio of IMB/IFc can be employed to accurately reflect the true level of original miRNA. Benefiting from the efficient integration of the T7 Exo-assisted target recycle, nonenzymatic hairpin assembly and dual-signal output mode, the proposed sensor could realize the amplified detection of miRNA-141 effectively with a wide detection range from 1 fM to 100 pM, and a detection limit of 200 aM. Furthermore, it exhibits outstanding sequence specificity to discriminate mismatched RNA, acceptable reproducibility and feasibility for real sample. This strategy effectively integrated the advantages of multiple amplification and ratiometric output modes, which could provide an accurate and efficient method in biosensing and clinical diagnosis.

Visual and dual-fluorescence homogeneous sensor for the detection of pyrophosphatase in clinical hyperthyroidism samples based on selective recognition of CdTe QDs and coordination polymerization of Ce3+

A visual / dual fluorescent strategy based on selective recognition of QDs and coordination polymerization of Ce³⁺ was developed for pyrophosphatase detection.

Sensitive determination of formamidopyrimidine DNA glucosylase based on phosphate group-modulated multi-enzyme catalysis and fluorescent copper nanoclusters

In this work, a method for quantifying the activity of formamidopyrimidine DNA glucosylase (Fpg) was designed based on phosphate group (P)-modulated multi-enzyme catalysis and fluorescent copper nanoclusters (CuNCs). By eliminating 8-oxoguanine from double-stranded DNA, Fpg generates a nick with P at both 3' and 5' termini. Subsequently, part of the DNA is digested by 5'P-activated lambda exonuclease (λ Exo), and the generated 3'P disables exonuclease I (Exo I), resulting in the generation of single-stranded DNA containing poly(thymine) (poly(T)). Using poly(T) as templates, CuNCs were prepared to emit intense fluorescence as the readout of this method. However, in the absence of Fpg, the originally modified 5'P triggers the digestion of λ Exo. In this case, fluorescence emission is not obtained because CuNCs cannot be formed without DNA templates. Therefore, the catalysis of λ Exo and Exo I can be tuned by 5'P and 3'P, which can be further used to determine the activity of Fpg. The fluorescent Fpg biosensor works in a "signal-on" manner with the feature of "zero" background noise, and thus shows desirable analytical features and good performance. Besides, Fpg in serum samples and cell lysate could be accurately detected with the biosensor, indicating the great value of the proposed system in practical and clinical analysis.

Versatile Sensing Platform for Cd2+ Detection in Rice Samples and Its Applications in Logic Gate Computation

A versatile sensing platform was designed for Cd²⁺ detection utilizing Mg²⁺-dependent DNAzyme as the biocatalyst and toehold-mediated strand replacement as the reaction mechanism. The Cd²⁺-aptamer interaction brings the split subunits of the Mg²⁺-dependent DNAzyme into close-enough proximity, which generates an active DNAzyme that can catalyze the cleavage reaction toward the hairpin substrate strand (H1). The trigger DNA fragment in H1 can open another hairpin probe (H2) to activate the cyclic signal amplification process. The generated numerous G-quadruplex DNAzyme structures will produce a high fluorescence response after incubation with the fluorescence dye N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX (NMM). This detection platform is ultrasensitive and the detection limit (LOD) is 2.5 pM (S/N = 3). The sensing system is robust and can work effectively even in a complex sample matrix, enabling the quantitative analysis of Cd²⁺ content in rice samples with good reliability. Showing the unique features of simple operation, label-free and enzyme-free format, high sensitivity and selectivity, and universal signal amplification mode, our proposed sensing protocol holds great promise for becoming a competitive alternative for the routine monitoring of Cd²⁺ pollution. Importantly, this flexible and versatile sensing platform was used to construct some exquisite logic gates, including AND, OR, INHIBIT, IMPLICATION, NOR, and NAND.

Double-signal mode based on metal–organic framework coupled cascaded nucleic acid circuits for accurate and sensitive detection of serum circulating miRNAs

A double-signal mode based on metal–organic framework coupled cascaded nucleic acid circuits was developed for the accurate and sensitive detection of serum circulating miRNAs.