Quantum Dot-Based Dual-Fluorescence Aptasensing Platform Using Interface-Engineered MXene for Multiplex Protein Detection

HighlightsWhat are the main findings?A dual-color fluorescence aptasensing system utilizing quantum dots and polydopamine-coated MXene was developed for simultaneous detection of spike and hemagglutinin proteins.Centrifugation-assisted signal separation, modular storage of aptamer lyophilized powder, and copper-free click chemistry-mediated self-assembly enabled sensitive multiplex detection.What are the implications of the main findings?The system offers a modular strategy that can be adapted to other respiratory pathogen targets by simply exchanging the aptamer lyophilized powder.Validation in artificial saliva suggests potential practicality for point-of-care application in clinical and public health settings.Antigen detection provides rapid and convenient diagnosis of respiratory infections. This study develops an innovative dual-fluorescence aptasensing method based on polydopamine-functionalized MXene (PDA-MXene) for the simultaneous detection of spike protein and hemagglutinin protein. The method employs green- and red-emitting quantum dot (QD) probes as fluorescence reporters, and the PDA-MXene as an effective adsorption and separation substrate. Coupled with a centrifugation-assisted separation strategy, this design method reduces background interference and enhances detection reliability. The method demonstrates good analytical performance, with detection limits of 0.82 ng/mL for spike protein and 2.11 ng/mL for hemagglutinin protein in single-channel mode. The dual-channel mode enables reliable and simultaneous quantification of both target proteins with minimal spectral cross-talk. Furthermore, this method exhibits high specificity against interferents including ions, proteins, and toxins. Artificial saliva, chosen as real sample, is spiked with target proteins to investigate the practical applicability of the method, showing recovery rates for both target proteins between 100 and 114 sensing strategy is simple to operate and allows the detection of new targets by simply replacing the azide-modified aptamer lyophilized powder. It therefore holds promising application for the simultaneous detection of multiple proteins in point-of-care testing and health monitoring fields.