Sensitive and specific detection of tumor exosomes is of great significance for early cancer diagnosis. In this paper, we report an aptamer strategy for exosome detection based on aptamer recognition-induced multi-DNA release and cyclic enzymatic amplification. First, we use aptamer–magnetic bead bioconjugates to capture tumor exosomes derived from LNCaP cells, leading to the release of three kinds of messenger DNAs (mDNAs). After magnetic separation, the released mDNAs hybridized with the probe DNAs immobilized on a gold electrode. Electroactive Ru(NH3)63+ was used as the signal reporter because of its electrostatic attraction to DNA. Subsequent Exo III cyclic digestion caused the electrochemical signal to “turn off”. Because the electrochemical signal reflects the concentration of Ru(NH3)63+ and the concentration of Ru(NH3)63+ is correlated with the mDNA concentration, which is correlated with the exosome concentration, the tumor exosomes can be detected by examining the decrease in the peak current of Ru(NH3)63+. In this paper, the signal was amplified by the numerous mDNAs released from the magnetic bead and the Exo III-assisted mDNA recycling. Under the optimal conditions, a detection limit down to 70 particles/μL was achieved, which is lower than the LODs of most currently available methods. Furthermore, this assay can be used to detect tumor exosomes in complex biological samples, demonstrating potential application in real sample diagnosis.
Ruo-Nan Zhao,Li-Ping Jia,Zhe Feng,Rong-Na Ma,Wei Zhang,Lei Shang,Qing-Wang Xue,Huai-Sheng Wang
8-Hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) is a principal stable marker of DNA oxidative damage . Sensitive and specific detection of 8-OH-dG is of great importance for early disease diagnosis. In this paper, we developed an electrochemiluminescence aptasensor for 8-OH-dG detection based on target induced multi-DNA release and nicking enzyme signaling amplification strategy. First, three kinds of short DNAs were aligned on the aptamers immobilized on the magnetic beads. In the presence of 8-OH-dG, the aptamer recognized and specifically bound with 8-OH-dG, leading to the release of three kinds of short DNAs and three-fold signal amplification . Then the released short DNAs hybridized with ferrocence (Fc) labeled hairpin DNA (Fc-HP) immobilized on the gold electrode to form a double strand DNA. Subsequently, nicking endonuclease (Nt. Alw I) recognized the asymmetric sequence in the dsDNA and cleaved the substrate strand (Fc-HP) into two parts, one fragments containing Fc would leave the surface of electrode. Based on the quenching effect of Fc on the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /TPA, a signal-on ECL aptasensor was developed. At the same time, three kinds of short DNAs were released again and reused to initiate the repeated cycles of hybridization-cleavage. Under double signal amplification, this aptasensor achieved a low detection of 25 fM and a wide linear range from 100 fM to 10 nM for 8-OH-dG. Besides, the amount of 8-OH-dG in urine samples derived from different people were determined with satisfactory results.