Over the last decade, circulating microRNAs have received attention as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In particular, microRNA122 has been demonstrated to be an early and more sensitive indicator of drug-induced liver injury than the widely used biomarkers such as alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Recently, microRNA122 has been used in vitro to assess the cellular toxicity of new drugs and as a biomarker for the development of a rapid test for drug overdose/liver damage. In this proof-of-concept study, we report a PCR-free and label-free detection method that has a limit of detection (3 standard deviations) of 15 fmoles of microRNA122, by integrating a dynamic chemical approach for "Single Nucleobase Labelling" with a bead-based platform (Luminex) thereby, in principle, demonstrating the exciting prospect of rapid and accurate profiling of any microRNAs related to diseases and toxicology.
Herein, we describe
the synthesis and application of cross-linked
polystyrene-based dual-function nano- and microparticles containing
both fluorescent tags and metals. Despite containing a single dye,
these particles exhibit a characteristic dual-band fluorescence emission.
Moreover, these particles can be combined with different metal ions
to obtain hybrid metallofluorescent particles. We demonstrate that
these particles are easily nanofected into living cells, allowing
them to be used for effective fingerprinting in multimodal fluorescence-based
and mass spectrometry-based flow cytometry experiments. Likewise,
the in situ reductions of the metal ions enable other potential uses
of the particles as heterogeneous catalysts.
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