NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.
Anal Chem. 2010 Mar 1;82(5):1838-43. doi: 10.1021/ac902503j.
Most of the existing techniques cannot be used to detect molecular biomarkers contained in complex fluids due to issues such as enzyme inhibition or signal interference. We have developed a nanoparticle-based scanning calorimetric method for the highly sensitive detections of multiple DNA biomarkers contained in cell lysate and milk by using solid-liquid phase change nanoparticles as thermal barcodes. The detection is based on the principle that the temperature of solid will not rise above the melting temperature unless all solid is molten, thus nanoparticles have sharp melting peaks during the thermal scan process. A one-to-one correspondence can thus be created between one type of nanoparticles and one type of biomarker, i.e., multiple biomarkers can be detected at the same time using a combination of nanoparticles. The melting temperature and the heat flow reflect the type and the concentration of the biomarker, respectively. The target oligonucleotides at low concentration in cell lysate (80 pM) have been detected through thermal signal transduction. The melting temperature of nanoparticles can be designed to avoid interference from coexisting species contained in the fluids, bringing simultaneously high sensitivity and multiplicity, as well as sample preparation benefits to biomarker detections.
由于酶抑制或信号干扰等问题，大多数现有的技术都无法用于检测复杂流体中包含的分子生物标志物。我们开发了一种基于纳米粒子的扫描量热法，用于通过使用固-液相变纳米粒子作为热条码，高度灵敏地检测细胞裂解液和牛奶中包含的多种 DNA 生物标志物。检测基于这样的原理：除非所有固体都熔化，否则固体的温度不会超过熔化温度，因此在热扫描过程中纳米粒子具有尖锐的熔化峰。因此，可以在一个纳米粒子对应一种生物标志物，即通过纳米粒子的组合可以同时检测多种生物标志物。熔化温度和热流分别反映了生物标志物的类型和浓度。通过热信号转导，可以检测到细胞裂解液中低浓度（80 pM）的目标寡核苷酸。纳米粒子的熔化温度可以设计为避免来自流体中共存物质的干扰，从而同时具有高灵敏度和多重性，以及对生物标志物检测的样品制备益处。
