Paper-based aptasensor for electrochemical detection of polyvalent antigen of dengue virus

ABSTRACT

Dengue virus (DENV) is one of the most transmittable diseases. Numerous countries still face severe illness or deaths due to DENV. To date, there is no vaccine or effective drug available for this. Therefore, to overcome the burden of the disease, an early & sensitive diagnostic approach shows a main part in the management of dengue disease. The present research is aimed to construct PBAs i.e. paper-based aptasensor for the detection of all serotypes of DENV. The proposed biosensor has several advantages, including being simple, low-cost, reproducible, and disposable. The aptasensor uses a three-electrode system, with the working electrode containing a silver/zinc nanocomposite that was chemically synthesised. The characterisation of the zinc/silver nanocomposite were evaluated using UV-vis spectra, XRD, & FESEM. Aptamers were also employed to increase the sensor’s functioning. This aptamer functionalised sensor was employed to improvise the selectivity of the developed platform. The outcomes of aptasensor was evaluated via CV/LSV, which was verified using a potentiostat. The established paper-based aptasensor delivered ideal response and a broad linear variety of 0.1–1000 µg/ml for the DENV virus, having 0.1 µg/ml (LOD). The developed PBAs, or paper-based aptasensors, might be particularly useful in point-of-care diagnostic applications. This biosensor is capable of detecting polyvalent DENV-Antigen of 4 serotypes of DENV and hence, this research provides sensitive diagnosis of serotypes on a same platform and also offers viable diagnostic apparatus for rural places with limited resources, for people who can’t afford costly medical procedures and have a finite access to professional staff.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyvalent antigen of DENV
• aptamer
• electrochemical detection
• nanocomposite
• paper-electrode
• human serum

Acknowledgements

This work is associated with ICMR, New Delhi.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the preparation of this manuscript. J.N. conceived the original idea and designed the research, supervised the overall project and formally analysed. M.R.H., S.S, P.S, C.S.P, K.B, M.Z.A conducted the experiments and drew the figures.

Data availability statement

Data will be available on request.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research [2020-0687].