Wang Yilei, Amarasiri Mohan, Oishi Wakana, Kuwahara Masayasu, Kataoka Yuka, Kurita Hiroki, Narita Fumio, Chen Rong, Li Qian, Sano Daisuke
Department of Frontier Sciences for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Water Res. 2025 Jul 1;279:123484. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123484. Epub 2025 Mar 12.
Wastewater-based epidemiological (WBE) surveillance has emerged as a crucial tool for monitoring infectious diseases within communities. However, its broader application is frequently constrained by the high costs, labor-intensive processes, and extended timeframes required for sample collection, transportation, and processing. Aptamer-based biosensors offer a promising alternative, leveraging the specific binding properties of aptamers to biomolecules for the on-site and rapid quantification of disease biomarkers in wastewater. This review systematically evaluates recent advancements in the application of aptamer-based biosensors for the detection of key pathogens, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and norovirus, within wastewater matrices. The discussion encompasses the technical stability and reliability of signal transmission associated with these biosensors, as well as the current challenges faced in real-world implementation. Noteworthy progress has been made in the development of these biosensors for WBE, achieving detection limits as low as femtomolar (fM) levels in buffer and linear dynamic ranges extending up to five orders of magnitude for viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Despite this progress, considerable hurdles remain to be addressed before these technologies can be effectively deployed in practical settings, especially within complex wastewater environments. Key factors affecting detection performance include matrix interference, environmental variability, and the diminished stability of both viral targets and aptamer-target interactions in wastewater. This review not only highlights these challenges but also outlines potential avenues for future research aimed at enhancing the functionality and applicability of aptamer-based biosensors in WBE, ultimately contributing to more effective public health surveillance and disease monitoring strategies.
基于废水的流行病学（WBE）监测已成为监测社区内传染病的关键工具。然而，其更广泛的应用常常受到高成本、劳动密集型流程以及样本采集、运输和处理所需的较长时间框架的限制。基于适体的生物传感器提供了一种有前景的替代方案，它利用适体与生物分子的特异性结合特性，用于现场快速定量废水中的疾病生物标志物。本综述系统评估了基于适体的生物传感器在废水基质中检测包括流感病毒、SARS-CoV-2和诺如病毒在内的关键病原体应用方面的最新进展。讨论涵盖了与这些生物传感器相关的信号传输的技术稳定性和可靠性，以及实际应用中面临的当前挑战。在开发用于WBE的这些生物传感器方面已经取得了显著进展，在缓冲液中实现了低至飞摩尔（fM）水平的检测限，对于流感和SARS-CoV-2等病毒，线性动态范围扩展到五个数量级。尽管取得了这一进展，但在这些技术能够有效地应用于实际环境之前，尤其是在复杂的废水环境中，仍有相当多的障碍需要克服。影响检测性能的关键因素包括基质干扰、环境变异性以及废水中病毒靶标和适体-靶标相互作用稳定性的降低。本综述不仅强调了这些挑战，还概述了未来研究的潜在途径，旨在增强基于适体的生物传感器在WBE中的功能和适用性，最终有助于制定更有效的公共卫生监测和疾病监测策略。
