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Gandotra R, Wu HB, Kuo FC, Lee MS, Lee GB. Advancing the Diagnosis of Periprosthetic Joint Infections: Integrated Microfluidic Platform for Alpha-Defensins-Specific Aptamer Selection and Its Analytical Applications. ACS Sens 2024; 9:1775-1784. [PMID: 38591344 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.3c02034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Periprosthetic joint infections (PJIs) pose a significant challenge in orthopedic surgery, particularly total joint arthroplasty (TJA), due to the potential for implant failure and increased patient morbidity. Early and accurate detection of PJIs is crucial for timely intervention and better patient prognosis. Herein, we successfully screened a high-affinity aptamer targeting alpha-defensin complex human neutrophil protein 1-3 (HNP 1-3; potential PJI biomarkers in synovial fluid [SF]) for the first time using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) on an integrated microfluidic platform. The compact microfluidic device enabled efficient screening, with each round completed within <2 h, comprising five rounds of positive selection, two rounds of negative selection, and one round of competitive selection. A novel one-aptamer-one-antibody assay was further developed from the optimal aptamer screened, and it could accurately quantify HNP 1-3 in SF within 3 h with only ∼50 μL of SF. The assay demonstrated strong binding affinity and specificity for the target protein in SF. Thirteen PJI SF samples were accurately diagnosed and the assay was accurate over a wide dynamic range (0.32-100 mg/L). This study has showcased a rapid and accurate diagnostic tool for PJI detection, which should see widespread use in the clinic, holding promise for potential analytical applications in orthopedic surgery and improving patient care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishabh Gandotra
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Hung-Bin Wu
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Chih Kuo
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan
| | - Mel S Lee
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Paochien Hospital, Pingtung 90064, Taiwan
| | - Gwo-Bin Lee
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
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Gandotra R, Kuo FC, Lee MS, Lee GB. A paper-based aptamer-sandwich assay for detection of HNP 1 as a biomarker for periprosthetic joint infections on an integrated microfluidic platform. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1281:341879. [PMID: 38783735 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) has significantly improved the quality of life for millions suffering from end-stage arthritis. However, periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) remain a serious complication, necessitating extensive interventions and prolonged antimicrobial treatments. The aging population is expected to lead to a rise in TJA cases, subsequently increasing the incidence of PJI, particularly in the elderly who face higher mortality rates. Current diagnostic methods for suspected PJI, such as radiographs and biochemical markers like CRP and ESR, exhibit limited sensitivity. Therefore, there is a critical need for a specific synovial fluid biomarker assay to enhance PJI diagnosis using specific SF-based assay. RESULTS This study introduces a novel microfluidic chip with a paper-based aptamer-sandwich assay for the quantitative detection of HNP 1, a crucial PJI biomarker, in synovial fluid. The assay leverages the advantages of aptamers over antibodies, demonstrating high selectivity and affinity for target molecules. The integration of a nitrocellulose (NC) membrane onto the microfluidic platform represents a significant advancement, reducing background signals and simplifying the assay procedure without intricate procedure and pre-treatment. The NC membrane-based microfluidic device offers rapid, cost-effective, and highly sensitive detection of HNP 1, with a limit of detection of 0.5 mg L-1. The microfluidic device demonstrates exceptional performance, detecting up to four clinical samples in approximately 42 min on a single chip with 100 % accuracy, as confirmed by analysis of 12 clinical samples and comparison with "gold-standard". Moreover, the assay exhibits a wide dynamic range of 0.5-100 mg L-1, underscoring its potential as a powerful tool for PJI diagnosis in clinical settings. SIGNIFICANCE This work introduces a paper-based microfluidic system tailored for rapid HNP 1 detection using synovial fluid near joint region (and not serum via blood) for better diagnosis. The innovative paper-based aptamer-sandwich assay yields results within 42-min. Significantly, it boasts a wide dynamic range, detecting levels from an impressive 0.5 mg L-1, crucial in the 2.6 mg L-1 threshold region. This heightened sensitivity and expansive detection capability establish our assay as a leader in PJI diagnostics, promising unmatched precision and efficiency in clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishabh Gandotra
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Chih Kuo
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Mel S Lee
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Paochien Hospital, Pintung, Taiwan.
| | - Gwo-Bin Lee
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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Wu HB, Wang CH, Chung YD, Shan YS, Lin YJ, Tsai HP, Lee GB. Highly-specific aptamer targeting SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein screened on an automatic integrated microfluidic system for COVID-19 diagnosis. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1274:341531. [PMID: 37455073 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 06/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have evolved such that it may be challenging for diagnosis and clinical treatment of the pandemic coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Compared with developed SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tools recently, aptamers may exhibit some advantages, including high specificity/affinity, longer shelf life (vs. antibodies), and could be easily prepared. Herein an integrated microfluidic system was developed to automatically carry out one novel screening process based on the systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) for screening aptamers specific with SARS-CoV-2. The new screening process started with five rounds of positive selection (with the S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2). In addition, including non-target viruses (influenza A and B), human respiratory tract-related cancer cells (adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells and dysplastic oral keratinocytes), and upper respiratory tract-related infectious bacteria (including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae), and human saliva were involved to increase the specificity of the screened aptamer during the negative selection. Totally, all 10 rounds could be completed within 20 h. The dissociation constant of the selected aptamer was determined to be 63.0 nM with S1 protein. Limits of detection for Wuhan and Omicron clinical strains were found to be satisfactory for clinical applications (i.e. 4.80 × 101 and 1.95 × 102 copies/mL, respectively). Moreover, the developed aptamer was verified to be capable of capturing inactivated SARS-CoV-2 viruses, eight SARS-CoV-2 pseudo-viruses, and clinical isolates of SARS-CoV-2 viruses. For high-variable emerging viruses, this developed integrated microfluidic system can be used to rapidly select highly-specific aptamers based on the novel SELEX methods to deal with infectious diseases in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung-Bin Wu
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Hung Wang
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Da Chung
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Yan-Shen Shan
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Ying-Jun Lin
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Huey-Pin Tsai
- Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
| | - Gwo-Bin Lee
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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Chen TW, Gandotra R, Chang HY, Lee MS, Kuo FC, Lee GB. Automatic Detection of Two Synovial Fluid Periprosthetic Joint Infection Biomarkers on an Integrated Microfluidic System. Anal Chem 2023; 95:7693-7701. [PMID: 37145768 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c00767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Post-arthroplasty periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a serious ailment that can be difficult to diagnose. Herein, we developed a novel integrated microfluidic system (IMS) capable of detecting two common PJI biomarkers, alpha defensin human neutrophil peptide 1 (HNP-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP), from synovial fluid (SF). A magnetic bead-based one-aptamer-one-antibody assay was carried out automatically within 45 min on a single chip for simultaneous detection of both biomarkers at concentration ranges of 0.01-50 (HNP-1) and 1-100 (CRP) mg/L. It is the first report for utilizing these two biomarkers as targets to establish the new one-aptamer-one-antibody assay to detect PJI on-chip, and the aptamers demonstrated high specificity to their SF targets. As 20 clinical samples were correctly diagnosed with our IMS (verified by a common gold standard kit), it could serve as a promising tool for PJI diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- To-Wen Chen
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Rishabh Gandotra
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Hwan-You Chang
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
| | - Mel S Lee
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Paochien Hospital, Pingtung 90064, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Chih Kuo
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan
- College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan
- Center for General Education, Cheng Shiu University, Kaohsiung 83347, Taiwan
| | - Gwo-Bin Lee
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
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Wen K, Chen Y, Meng X, Botros S, Dai W, Stojanovic MN, Tomer R, Lin Q. A Microfluidic Dual-Aptamer Sandwich Assay for Rapid and Cost-Effective Detection of Recombinant Proteins. Microchem J 2023; 188:108454. [PMID: 36992861 PMCID: PMC10041396 DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2023.108454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
While monitoring expression of recombinant proteins is essential for obtaining high-quality biopharmaceutical and biotechnological products, existing assays for recombinant protein detection are laborious, time-consuming and expensive. This paper presents a microfluidic approach to rapid and cost-effective detection of tag-fused recombinant proteins via a dual-aptamer sandwich assay. Our approach addresses limitations in current methods for both dual-aptamer assays and generation of aptamers for such assays by first using microfluidic technology to isolate the aptamers rapidly and then employing these aptamers to implement a microfluidic dual-aptamer assay for tag-fused recombinant protein detection. The use of microfluidic technology enables the fast generation of aptamers and rapid detection of recombinant proteins with minimized consumption of reagents. In addition, compared with antibodies, aptamers as low-cost affinity reagents with an ability of reversible denaturation further decreases the cost of recombinant protein detection. For demonstration, an aptamer pair is isolated rapidly toward His-tagged IgE within two days, and then used in the microfluidic dual-aptamer assay for detecting His-tagged IgE in cell culture media within 10 min and with a limit of detection of 7.1 nM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kechun Wen
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Yannan Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Xin Meng
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Samantha Botros
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Wenting Dai
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Milan N. Stojanovic
- Division of Experimental Therapeutics, Department of Medicine and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA
| | - Raju Tomer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Qiao Lin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
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Gandotra R, Chen TW, Kuo FC, Lee MS, Lee GB. An aptamer-based sandwich assay for detection of alpha-defensin human neutrophil protein 1 on a microfluidic platform. Biosens Bioelectron 2023; 229:115120. [PMID: 36963324 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) remains a labor-intensive and challenging issue, with life-threatening complications associated with misdiagnoses. Superior diagnostic approaches are therefore urgently needed, and synovial biomarkers are gaining substantial attention in this capacity. A new aptamer-based sandwich assay was developed where the aptamer probes specific to one such biomarker, alpha-defensin human neutrophil protein 1 (HNP 1), was integrated herein into a new microfluidic platform. The magnetic beads coated with the primary aptamer probe were able to bind the target protein with high affinity and high specificity in synovial fluid and a fluorescent-labelled secondary aptamer were further used to quantify HNP 1 in a sandwich approach. Up to four clinical samples with low volume (∼50 μL each) in a much faster assay including detection within <60 min with 100% accuracy (with totally 13 clinical samples without the need of sample pretreatment) through the use of the aptamer-based sandwich assay were automatically detected on a single chip. The wide dynamic range of this compact device, 0.5-100 mg/L, highlights its utility for future PJI diagnostics in the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishabh Gandotra
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - To-Wen Chen
- Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Chih Kuo
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Mel S Lee
- Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Paochien Hospital, Pintung, Taiwan.
| | - Gwo-Bin Lee
- Institute of NanoEngineering and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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