Proteomics and Microbiology Department, University of Mons, Champ de Mars 6, 7000, Mons, Belgium.
Electromagnetism and Telecommunications Department, University of Mons, Bld. Dolez 31, 7000, Mons, Belgium.
Malar J. 2021 Jul 28;20(1):332. doi: 10.1186/s12936-021-03863-3.
Early malaria diagnosis and its profiling require the development of new sensing platforms enabling rapid and early analysis of parasites in blood or saliva, aside the widespread rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs).
This study shows the performance of a cost-effective optical fiber-based solution to target the presence of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP2). Unclad multimode optical fiber probes are coated with a thin gold film to excite Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) yielding high sensitivity to bio-interactions between targets and bioreceptors grafted on the metal surface.
Their performances are presented in laboratory conditions using PBS spiked with growing concentrations of purified target proteins and within in vitro cultures. Two probe configurations are studied through label-free detection and amplification using secondary antibodies to show the possibility to lower the intrisic limit of detection.
As malaria hits millions of people worldwide, the improvement and multiplexing of this optical fiber technique can be of great interest, especially for a future purpose of using multiple receptors on the fiber surface or several coated-nanoparticles as amplifiers.
早期疟疾诊断及其分析需要开发新的传感平台，以便除了广泛使用的快速诊断检测（RDT）外，还能快速、早期地分析血液或唾液中的寄生虫。
本研究展示了一种具有成本效益的光纤解决方案，用于检测恶性疟原虫 HRP2（PfHRP2）的存在。未涂覆的多模光纤探针涂有一层薄薄的金膜，以激发表面等离子体共振（SPR），从而对目标与金属表面接枝的生物受体之间的生物相互作用具有高灵敏度。
使用 PBS 溶液（其中含有不断增加浓度的纯化靶蛋白）和体外培养物，在实验室条件下对它们的性能进行了研究。通过使用二级抗体进行无标记检测和放大，研究了两种探头配置，以展示降低固有检测限的可能性。
由于疟疾影响了全球数百万人，因此改进和复用这种光纤技术将具有很大的意义，特别是将来可能在光纤表面使用多个受体或多个涂覆的纳米颗粒作为放大器。
