Disposable Voltammetric Immunosensor for D-Dimer Detection as Early Biomarker of Thromboembolic Disease and of COVID-19 Prognosis

• Published in: Biosensors (Basel) 2022-12, Vol.13 (1), p.43
• Main Authors: Tortolini, Cristina, Gigli, Valeria, Angeloni, Antonio, Galantini, Luciano, Tasca, Federico, Antiochia, Riccarda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigens; Biocompatibility; Biomarkers; Biomolecules; Biosensing Techniques - methods; Blood clots; Blood plasma; Carbon; Chitosan; Chitosan - chemistry; chitosan nanoparticles; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - diagnosis; D-dimer; Dimers; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; Electrochemical Techniques; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Epitopes; Gold - chemistry; human plasma samples; Humans; Immobilization; Immunoassay; Immunosensors; Investigations; Lasers; Light scattering; Limit of Detection; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Mortality; Multi wall carbon nanotubes; MWCNTs-screen printed electrode; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Photon correlation spectroscopy; Potassium; Prognosis; Protein A; Proteins; Response time; Scanning electron microscopy; Smartphones; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis; voltammetric immunosensor; Voltammetry
• ISSN: 2079-6374; 2079-6374
• DOI: 10.3390/bios13010043

In this work, we report on the development of a simple electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of D-dimer protein in human plasma samples. The immunosensor is built by a simple drop-casting procedure of chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) as biocompatible support, Protein A (PrA), to facilitate the proper orientation of the antibody sites to epitopes as a capture biomolecule, and the D-dimer antibody onto a carboxyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes screen printed electrode (MWCNTs-SPE). The CSNPs have been morphologically characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) techniques. Successively, the electrochemical properties of the screen-printed working electrode after each modification step have been characterized by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The resulting MWCNTs-CSNPs-PrA-D-dimer Ab immunosensor displays an optimal and promising platform for antibody immobilization and specific D-dimer detection. DPV has been used to investigate the antigen/antibody interaction at different D-dimer concentrations. The proposed voltammetric immunosensor allowed a linear range from 2 to 500 μg L with a LOD of 0.6 μg L and a sensitivity of 1.3 μA L μg cm . Good stability and a fast response time (5 s) have been reported. Lastly, the performance of the voltammetric immunosensor has been tested in human plasma samples, showing satisfactory results, thus attesting to the promising feasibility of the proposed platform for detecting D-dimer in physiological samples.